


The Crescent City Chronicles

by eshcaine



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Bank Robbery, Benstina, Bombs, Escape, Explosions, Guns, Hostage Situations, Kidnapping, Lab Accidents, M/M, Minor Character Death, Shooting, Snipers, Superheroes, Suspension, Terrorists, The Comet, Vigilantism, drugged, electro - Freeform, genetic mutations, the hunter - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-23
Updated: 2014-08-23
Packaged: 2018-02-14 10:57:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 21
Words: 51,318
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2189121
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eshcaine/pseuds/eshcaine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Police Commissioner Robert Singer has a bit of a problem on his hands. He’s got a handful of vigilante super heroes running around in his city and Mayor Crowley is barking right and left to have them taken off the streets. The real problem is that these heroes are actually helping to curb the crime rate, and Commissioner Singer would just as soon look the other way. The other problem is that he knows two of them personally… his adopted sons, Sam and Dean Winchester….</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Hunter

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally posted in the spring of 2013 as a series: http://archiveofourown.org/series/40080  
> I've had a lot of people tell me it's difficult to read on their mobile devices and hard to download, so I'm consolidating the entire piece as one story (which it should have been from the start) Eventually I'll take screen caps of all the lovely kudos and comments that were left there and I'll post them at the end of this....but I'll delete the series as it stands once that's finished. =)

 

 

 

**CHAPTER ONE: THE HUNTER**

 

_Dean, mechanic by day, force of street justice by night. Dubbed as "The Hunter" by news papers and tabloids alike._

 

 

 

 

Dean picked up the paper and groaned. “Ugh. Always with the cape! Why do they always draw a cape? No capes! It’s not that difficult to get your head around.” He looked over at Sam with exasperation in his eyes, “Didn’t these people see The Incredibles?!”

 

 

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

 

57th Street Liquor Store. That’s what it was called. It sat on the corner of the street it was named for and Atlantic Avenue. On one side of it was a dying laundry mat and around the corner on the other side was a barber shop that had seen better days. The whole neighborhood had seen better days. But that’s why Dean came down here, to this area, to the neighborhoods where no one felt safe walking at night. Where you heard guns popping off at random intervals instead of kids laughing. Where the windows had bars screwed over their surfaces and doors had locked mesh gates instead of breezy screen doors. Where even in the day time people wouldn’t look you in the eye partly because of fear, but partly because they didn’t want you to see the broken emptiness of poverty in their eyes.

Dean came down here because it made him angry. It made him clench his jaw and tighten his fist when he saw a gentle Abuela flinch anytime someone slammed a door, or families unable to open their windows on warm summer nights because it was safer that way. Dean was tired of the oppression and the hopelessness. He was tired of the jobs that never paid anyone enough and the desperation it created. He couldn’t change much about that directly, but he could walk the streets and do something else. He could make the criminal element think twice about preying on the helpless. He could make it harder for them to get away with victimizing people. He could make it rough for those who enjoyed dealing out fear and pain to people who already had enough woe in their lives.

So he did. By shadow and stealth and by striking with speed and force. He crawled the back alley ways and hovered over rooftops. He would stop them, one by one. Inch by dark inch.

During the day when he wasn't at work, he kept a more mundane profile. He’d walk the streets, shop in the stores, learn faces and names. He’d listen and watch. This afternoon he had wandered in to the liquor store under the pretense of grabbing a case of beer and to check out the whiskey selection.

He had walked in, and gone unnoticed by the clerk at the checkout. Then he had milled back to the back of the store, surreptitiously checking out the lack of security surveillance in the place. The rumor he had picked up on the street was that the store was selling more than just beer, wine and hard spirits and so he had come here to look around. His hand was hovering between the Marker’s Mark and the Jack Daniels when he heard the entry door jingle open. And then, just as he had brushed a finger against the wax seal on the Maker’s Mark bottle neck he heard the familiar ‘click-clack’ of a gun being cocked.

“Really?!” Dean thought as he closed his eyes. “Now?!” But all that came out of Dean’s lips was a hushed exhale of “Son of a bitch….”as he sunk gracefully down into a low crouch.

“Git yer hands up!” A rough voice snarled out from the area where the check out was, “….All the cash….NOW….Hurry!” and he could hear the clerk’s hesitant and frightened compliant reply. He also heard the sound of the cash drawer coming open and the hissing rattle of a plastic bag being shaken into service.

Dean pulled his hood up over his head and spider walked toward the entry while keeping low. He moved to the end of the aisle and kept as close to the shelves as possible. Once there he closed his eyes and opened his perceptions up wide. It was like turning a knob up in his head, everything became so much more _there_. He could hone in on the blood hammering in the veins of both the robber and the clerk. He could smell the adrenaline spiking off the robber and the fear rolling off the clerk. In his mind’s eye he could pin point their exact positions in the room from feeling the air current wash through the store.

Dean grimaced and flexed his forearms. This engaged and released holding mechanisms hidden up his jacket sleeves and twin metal batons ejected down with a soft ‘thwump’ into his palms. He gripped them and flicked his thumbs over the bottom ends touching switch edges embedded there. They began to vibrate with a low hum.

A moment later Dean was a blur of motion.

He rounded the corner at the end of the aisle, pivoted himself on his left foot and used his right leg to spring board up into the air. As his body flew up, he tipped the top of a stack of soda cases with his left foot, carrying his momentum forward and sailing his body up and over. He came at break neck speed with a muffled ‘whoosh’ at the back of the robber, his arms and weapons splayed wide like a bird of prey. As he came down he nailed his right knee in between the back shoulder blades of the other man. The gun cracked as a shot fired off but it went far wide of the clerk and hit the wall five feet away.

A single breath later the robber was faced down on the floor with Dean’s solid form crouching like a predator over his back. Dean rapped the back of the robber’s head once hard with the pommel of his baton, cold cocking him unconscious, and then leapt off of the man to stand half facing the clerk.

“Y….you…..” The clerk stammered wide-eyed and swallowed hard, “You’re….THE HUNTER!”

Dean kept his head lowered so his hood hid his face in shadow. He nodded once and in a low gruff voice said, “Call the cops.” Then in a soft huff of air he was out the door and gone.

_(to be continued)_

 

 

 

 

 

_Original kudos from the original posting:_


	2. Electro!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sam, a university student with a spark of something more and a great tragedy in his recent past.

In another part of the city, near one of the well known parks that lead out to a beautiful sweeping vista of the ocean, Sam loitered near a land line phone box junction and looked around. It was that time of the evening where most people were in their homes eating, or busy coming home from work and the streets were fairly empty of pedestrians. The junction box was partially obscured by some shrubbery which is why Sam had chosen it. It was also within a block of where Bobby and members of his task force waited with a well known council woman for a very important phone call. Bobby had asked Sam to tap into the line and see what info he could get from the call.

Sam checked his watch. It was almost six o’clock and that’s when Bobby said the call would be made. Sam checked the street once more for cars and pedestrians, and then hunkered down to work on picking the lock on the metal case housing the junction. He slipped his lock picking tools from his pocket and got to work. A moment later he had it open and he could access the interior wires.

Sam checked his watch once more and raised an eyebrow. He reached into the mass of phone cables and wires with his right hand and spread his fingers open wide, carefully lacing them through the connections. He closed his eyes and simply extended himself. It was like reaching out beyond his mind and his physical form to connect with the energy of the world around him. Tiny threads of electricity sparked and wove across his hand and the wires, lighting up Sam’s face in a faint blue glow. He remained still and silent a moment as if listening. His brows knit together gently, and he began to focus as if chasing a thought. A few minutes later his face relaxed and the corner of his mouth quirked up, “Got you.”

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Sam traced the call to a house across town on the posh side of the city.

The house was actually a perfect choice. Large and away from the road with a lush yard, perimeter wall fence and an impressive master gate and whose listed owners were off on some vacation cruise. Big trees stretched their limbs out canvassing the lawn and it was difficult to see the house at all from the street.

Sam negotiated the wall easily, climbing over and dropping down undetected into the thick grass beyond. He was wearing indigo blue jogging leggings, a dark blue t-shirt and a jacket that matched the jogging pants. On the sleeve of the jacket was a small embroidered lightning bolt insignia. He also wore heavy duty ski goggles that were currently pushed up against his forehead. On his feet were rubber soled running shoes that were also in the same deep indigo. The color helped him blend in easily with the shadows as he made his way swiftly up to the house.

Sam slid against the outside wall of the home and shimmied along until he came to a window. He peered around for a quick glance into the room within, and then looked at the window itself. He found a thin silvery wire for the home security system threaded around the edge of the glass. Sam let a wide smile grow across his face and he laid one finger tip against the security wire. Like with the phone wires, Sam extended himself just a little and a tiny bright spark popped in between his finger and the silver. Sam closed his eyes and focused his thoughts. He reached out into the security system inside the house and began to access the information there.

“One…two, three…..” He whispered, “Four….downstairs. Two…..three upstairs and…….Bingo.” Sam bit his lip a little in excitement, “Found you.”

Then Sam shifted his finger on the wire a little and pressed against it. Another crackle of electricity snapped in between them and Sam removed his finger. Disabling alarms was easy.

Sam fixed the ski goggles over his eyes, turned his body and lifted the window open, careful not to make any noise. He slipped inside and brought his body down into a crouch. He did a cautious slow crab walk that brought him to the entryway of the next room where two men sat at a card table cleaning their guns. Sam did a forward quick roll that took him through the archway and left him positioned behind a large plush chair near the men. He listened to see if they had noticed him and let out a slow exhale. When they continued with their activities, he took in another deep silent breath and as he let it issue out he leapt up and whirled to face the men. In the same motion he threw his hands and arms out at them. Bright blue white needles of electricity shot out from his hands and caught each man in the torso. They seized up and jerked, crumbling to the floor with a thud. Sam went over to them quickly and checked their breathing and their pulse rate. Satisfied that they were knocked unconscious but were still alive, he moved on to the next room.

It was the kitchen. Another two men were standing around eating sandwiches. Sam’s stomach rumbled a bit and he realized he had skipped eating dinner when Bobby had contacted him. He took his eyes off the food and looked down to see a wall outlet down near his shin. He bent down and sent a bright flash of current into it, and moments later the light over the sink gave a loud POP and went out. When the men turned their backs to investigate, Sam slipped up behind them and gave them each enough of a zap to knock them unconscious. He let them tumble to the floor and he turned to leave the kitchen. He paused; pick up one of the untouched halves of sandwich and left, nibbling on it as he walked to the stairs.

He walked cautiously up the main stairway to the second floor. The home had installed small ornate lamp sconces along the wall and Sam ran over these with his free hand as he came up. Each one he touched flickered and winked out and soon the stairs were bathed in shadowy darkness. He also finished the sandwich by the time he was on the second floor.

The two men he met in the hallway he didn’t bother to sneak up on. It was too confined a space, so he approached them head on, with a blinding swiftness and grabbed the muzzles of their drawn guns. He twisted his hands around the gun barrels and sent a quick burst of electricity through them. It soldered the guns mechanisms into useless metal and sent a jolt to the men holding them. Sam flipped the guns away from their hands and ducked as one of the men swung a punch at his head. Sam came up with an upper cut to the guy’s diaphragm and knocked the air out of the man’s lungs. The other man made to grapple Sam, his hands grabbing at Sam’s shoulder and gripping Sam’s jacket. Sam swung around with his left hand and touched the man skin to skin. A flash of white hot sparks riddled off Sam and covered the man’s hand. He let go with a shout and was repelled back. Sam wheeled his body around and decked the guy knocking him out. The first man Sam had engaged was trying to stand back up, but Sam just flattened his hand along the man’s chest and sent a jolt through him. The man jerked, a mix of surprise and pain on his face, and then he collapsed in a heap on the floor.

Sam straightened his jacket and strode to the end of the hallway. He paused before opening the master bedroom door to lightly run his hand over a light switch on the wall. A faint ghost of electricity danced out of his fingers and into the switch. Then he took hold of the door knob and flung the door open.

The master bedroom was an expansive thing with a vaulted ceiling, a large canopy bed, those ornate sconce lights from the stairway were on every wall and a thick plush carpet covered the floor. It also had a large window with a chaise lounge placed in front of it. Seated there was a dark haired woman in an expensive sleek black business suit wearing shining black stiletto heels. One of her hands was stroking the dark hair of a small boy while the other hand held a large gun to the boy’s head.

“So…. Electro, we meet again.” The woman smirked.

“Ruby.” Sam said her name as plainly as he could muster, but there was an old flicker of recognition deeper in his eyes that spoke of lost memories and disappointment. Thankfully his goggles hid all of that from her view. “It doesn’t have to play out this way. You know that. Let Kevin go, and I’ll tell the police you co-operated.”

“Tsk….I have a better idea.” Ruby threaded her fingers into the boy’s hair and jerked his small head back. The boy made a whimpering sound in his chest and closed his frightened eyes. “I think I am going to shoot the boy, then beat the living daylights out of you, and then frame you for Kevin’s kidnapping….oh, and for his murder too. Okay?”

The anger in Sam swelled up and shone in his eyes and in the hard line of his mouth. He opened his mouth to retort but never got the breath out of his lungs. Ruby whipped the gun off Kevin and fired three fast shots off in Sam’s direction. The first one winged Sam on his thigh, and the second clipped the very edge of his heel as he dove for cover behind the bed. The third bullet hadn’t even lodged into the wall yet and Ruby was already leaping up to come after Sam. She flew around of corner of the bed and leveled the gun’s barrel at Sam’s exposed side. She squeezed the trigger and….

CRACK.

Suddenly every lamp and electrical outlet in the room exploded showering sparks and glass everywhere. Ruby instinctively jerked and shot wild, sending the bullet to thwack into the floor inches from Sam’s stomach. Sam threw out his left hand and let loose a small ball of bright electricity. It sailed out and slammed into Ruby’s gun sending her backwards off her feet. Sam tucked and rolled up onto his feet, then pounced on Ruby slamming her hands over her head and pinning her there with his weight. He sent another fast jolt through her and knocked her out cold.

Instantly Sam looked over to where Kevin had been, but the boy was gone. “Kevin?!” Sam called out alarmed. “KEVIN!”

A small dark head peeked out from under the bed, the boy’s face framed comically by the floral bed skirt. The boy had gone for cover the moment Ruby’s attention went to shooting at Sam, and had hidden under the bed on instinct.

“Are you okay Kevin?” Sam sat back on the floor beside Ruby’s unconscious body. He rested his hands lazily on his drawn up knees and he gave Kevin a gentle smile.

Kevin nodded yes.

“Good. I’m going to tie all these kidnappers up for the police okay? I want you to wait here until I come back, okay?” Sam gave the boy an earnest look.

Kevin wiggled out from under the bed and brought his six year old body to stand in between Sam’s lanky legs, “You’re… Electro!”

Sam chuckled at the media given name, “Yea, that’s what they call me.”

Kevin stuck out his hand to Sam, and Sam took it shaking gently. Kevin smiled bright, “Thanks Electro, you’re my hero.”

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

There was a sheet of paper on the refrigerator. On one side Sam’s name was written in his neat penmanship. On the other, the name ‘Dean’ had been scrawled hastily in bold writing. Below each name there were the names of the months and with various marks beside or below. Sam, January, nine hash marks. Dean, January, eleven hash marks. Sam, February, twenty-three hash marks. Dean, February, fifteen hash marks. And so on.

Dean was standing there, pencil in hand marking down three more marks under his name for this month when Sam walked in.

“Hey Dean.”

“Hey.”

“How’s your night?” Sam sat on the couch of their small apartment living room and began to remove his shoes.

“Two store robberies, single suspects. One attempted rape, one suspect.” Dean peered over at his brother from where he stood, “Bobby tried calling me but never left a message and I wasn’t where I could pick up and talk.”

Sam nodded as he stood and slipped out of his jacket, “Kidnapping. Councilwoman Tran’s son, Kevin.”

“Seriously?”

“Mark me down for seven.” Sam walked into the kitchen and tapped the tally sheet giving Dean a smirk.

“You’re killing me this month Sammy….”Dean scowled and marked the paper.

Sam took a deep breath and then said, “One of them….was Ruby.”

Dean looked over at his brother with raised brows. “She still doesn’t remember you or who she used to be huh?”

Sam just shook his head and walked to look out the tiny kitchen window. “Nope….. and I don’t think she ever will.”

_(to be continued)_


	3. The Comet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ...and unknown to all of them, a new comer to Crescent City. A man with a hidden past and a hidden gift

Crescent City sat fanned around and back from a large crescent shaped bustling harbor. It was connected across this harbor to two other cities whose sprawl made it impossible to tell where one started and another stopped. Across the harbor connecting Crescent City to Angelus and Havenport were two massive bridges that had been built in the 1960s. One bridge had a rounded curve to the construct of its girders and beams. It was pale blue, bleached by so many years in the sun and open sky. The locals called it “C-Bridge” as a nickname for the longer official title of “Crescent City Bridge”. The other one was a massive suspension bridge that thrust its towering silver supports hundreds of feet into the air and spanned over the part of the port where the elaborate cruise ships docked and where huge rail-mounted gantry cranes towered over the water. This bridge was “Halo Bridge” and it was a favourite among tourists.

It was also the bridge Castiel Novak had to drive over first when he was heading back to Crescent City after work every day.

It was raining today, and the bridge was living up to its name with clouds and fog creating thick misty grey halos up and down its supports. The traffic was crawling slowly as one lane was closed off, squeezing cars, trucks and other vehicles down to a single line.

Castiel was seated inside his Subaru, heater on to chase off the chill despite the trench coat he was wearing. He was stuck behind a large semi truck and their speed up the side of the bridge had barely crested over five miles an hour. When the truck came to a halt half way up the bridge Castiel let out a stoic sigh and glanced to see what CDs were in reach so he could listen to music and keep his stress levels down. He fingered through the small slotted holder case resting in the passenger seat and pulled out one his sister Anna had sent him not long ago. He slid it into the dashboard CD player and clicked up the volume knob.[ Soon a snappy upbeat rhythm came over the speakers of his car](http://youtu.be/9xsoCki4pTk) and he relaxed while taking a deep breath. After a moment his eyes wandered out the passenger side window to absently look at one of the construction “this lane closed” signs flashing beyond. Its orange gold throbbing made all the water droplets along the windows of that side of the car flicker like tiny fireflies. It winked in time with the music and Castiel’s eyes glittered with faint mirth.

That was when he felt something. It felt as if something had jerked his car sideways sharply. It happened again, harder and it jiggled him back and forth in his seat. Alarmed, Castiel gripped his steering wheel and looked ahead. When it happened a third time and it shook him hard, he saw the truck in front of him sway hard side to side.

Suddenly two people ran past his car headed back in the direction Castiel had just driven up from. Then another person ran by, terror in their eyes.

Castiel pulled up the parking brake and unclasped his seat belt. He opened his door and stepped out, looking up ahead along the small shoulder that ran alongside the big center cement divider for the traffic lanes. In front of him, the trucker was doing the same, hanging half out of his cab with a higher position to see what was happening up ahead. Castiel hesitated a moment, then reached in and turned off his car. He closed the door, locked it and pocketed his keys into his coat. Then he walked up behind the trucker.

“Excuse me…Pardon…but what’s happening?” Castiel called up to the truck driver.

The trucker’s reply was a loud series of expletives as he dropped down and turned, brushing past Castiel as he ran in the direction like the others. Castiel gave a nervous sigh and walked around the open truck door. He still couldn’t see much ahead beyond the line of cars except thick foggy mists. His shoulders fell a little and he went to turn back to his car when the entire bridge gave a hard shudder and then sort of did this wave motion under Castiel’s feet. Then the bridge swayed again, groaning loudly and shifted to the left about four feet before it slammed to a halt.

Castiel’s hand flew out to brace himself against the cement divider as he saw more people running toward him. He grabbed one man as he rushed by. The man, wide eyed and panicked only could gasp out “It’s falling!!!” before he tore himself out of Castiel’s grasp and fled.

It was then that Castiel could hear someone screaming.

He rushed forward noting that the slope of the bridge’s road began to turn down a lot sooner than it should be. A glance up at the second set of massive supports spires told him the bridge was listing dangerously to one side. The bridge gave out another loud protest and jerked again. Castiel kept running forward towards the scream.

A half second later he could see the edge of road where no edge should be. A huge tear ripped an open hole across the bridge and Castiel could see the harbor water a hundred feet or more below. The cement divider was crumbled and gone here, and he could see the oncoming lanes of traffic. He could also see where the bridge was being held up accidentally by one of the massive rail-mounted gantry cranes that lined this side of the harbor next to the bridge. He marveled for a moment how the thing was keeping the bridge from tumbling over and then snapped his eyes back in the direction of the screaming.

A woman was trapped in her car, and the front end of it was dangling precariously over the edge of the torn roadway.

Castiel stripped off his trench coat and dropped it on the cracking pavement. He rushed forward and grabbed for the door handle to the driver’s side backseat. He jiggled it and found it locked.

“I can’t unlock it!” She cried out from inside, “Oh god help me please I don’t wanna die!!!”

Castiel pulled again on the door handle but it wouldn’t give. He stepped back and looked at the car. He took a moment and looked around him for anything he could use to anchor the back of the car to keep it from tipping further over the edge. Frustrated he stepped to his left, then to his right bringing him directly behind the vehicle. He considered trying to open the trunk but then decided against it in case the shift in weight became deadly.

He stopped, his hands held at his sides and he looked up into the grey sky above him, the rain kissing his cheeks gently as if to say ‘it’s okay, you can do this, have faith’. Castiel swallowed hard to tamp down the apprehension in his gut. “But what if I hurt someone…?” He silently asked the sky with his eyes. The only answer he received was the creaking groan of the car in front of him and the terrified cried of the woman within it.

“Okay.” Castiel closed his eyes, stretched out his arms and reached deep into his core. Inside his mind it was like he flicked on a switch and then suddenly…. Light. Peals of cascading undulating light. It burst forth from deep inside Castiel’s chest and splashed out like a geyser to wash and encompass his body. It was cold and hot all at once and it slashed his clothing away from him like a hurricane wind. He was left standing there like a column of hazy fiery dry ice, glowing in ultraviolet blues, white and purples. With a small spring he leapt into the air flying and hovering like a dragonfly.

He swooped down in front of the car and heard the woman give a new kind of shocked scream. He braced the front of the car with his hands and then lifting it with ease; he shoved the vehicle backwards on the road. Where he touched the car the metal froze suddenly, leaving spidery frost traces over its surface. He dragged it sideways and seated it firmly, then moved over and in one impressive display of strength ripped the door from its hinges to free the woman. She lay limp on the seat having fainted from the sight of him.

Again the bridge let out another groan and Castiel realized it needed to be righted and stabilized somehow. He took flight again and soared down under the bridge to view the damage. It was then that he saw the explosion marks at the base of one of the support pylons. The side of the metal was bloated and torn outwards. He was still contemplating this when he heard someone yelling from above.

“HEY!!! HEY TINKERBELL!!”

Castiel looked up to see a man hanging along the edge of the torn road.

The man was wearing a hooded jacket, military pants and some sort of sport goggles over his face. He was half repelled along the outer side of the bridge, using a broken cable to hold onto. He was looking right at Castiel and motioning for him to come up. Castiel did.

“Grab that other cable! We can at least re-attach these to give it a bit of stability while we get the rest of these people out of their cars and off the bridge.” The hooded man gestured to three cables that had snapped loose.

Castiel tried to speak, tried to say he couldn’t. That anything he touched would be instantly frozen and burned at the same time. He had no real mouth in this form, so the best he could do was shake his head and hover close enough to a ripped piece of metal. He touched it to demonstrate and then looked at the hooded man. The metal froze brittle as ice and cracked.

“Huh.” The man sized Castiel up and down, then said, “Well that sucks.”

Another man, all in indigo blue with shaggy brown hair also wearing goggles came trotting up the road to the hooded man. He drew up short when he saw Castiel and made an unsure face. The hooded man looked at the other and said, “It’s okay….uh…. Electro….” An awkward half smile crept over the hooded man’s lips.

“Right, yea. Um, Hunter….I got all the people off this side of the rift, both east and west bound traffic. You find the cause yet?” The man in indigo called Electro was still looking nervously at Castiel, at him floating in the air and shimmering like an arctic sunrise.

The hooded man leaned over the edge and pointed down at the damaged pylon, “Multiple explosion. Big one. From inside the pylon.” Then he saw the apprehension on the indigo clad man’s face and said, “It’s not this guy…”nudging his head in Castiel’s direction. “Tinkerbell is ….okay.” The hooded man untangled himself from the cables and dropped to the road. “Let’s get to the other side.”

Castiel decided to hover close and investigate the two men. Their manner of dress indicated they weren’t normal citizens and then he realized they were two of the vigilantes that the news papers kept in the headlines lately. He watched them work as a team, first using grappling hooks and lines to get to the other side of the damaged bridge, and then as they worked seamlessly to free people from their cars and get them moving off the bridge to safety.

Castiel decided there was nothing more he could do here, and so he flew back to where his trench coat lay rumpled on the pavement of the bridge. He set foot down and watched the asphalt vein beneath him with ice. He relaxed, lowered his hands to his sides and closed his eyes. Then, just as he had reached deep and switched this on, he went back down inside himself and switched it off. He felt the ice and haze whisk away from his body and he was left standing on the ice patch barefoot and naked. He gave a light shiver and stepped off the patch, scooped up his trench coat and put it on. He wrapped it close and made his way back to his car and he hoped the rest of the evening would be a long dull drive the long way back around the harbor.

When he reached his car and unlocked it he was thinking of how a nice cup of hot tea would be just the thing for him once he was home. He went to the back end of his car, opened it and pulled out his gym bag. He sat on his back end bumper, tugged on his workout sweat pants under his coat and pulled on his gym socks and shoes. Then he slipped off the coat briefly to pull on a t-shirt that said Argon National Laboratories before returning his trench coat back on his body.

He had just closed the back end of his car and locked it when emergency personnel hustled up to him on the bridge and removed him to where the rest of the survivors were gathered at the bottom. There he was fussed over and questioned and interrogated like all the other people who had been on the bridge. They would keep him there for the rest of the evening with the other survivors going through the process of sorting out the tragedy.

“So much for that cup of tea.” Castiel thought and then enviously wondered how the two men had vanished so easily and gotten away.

_(to be continued)_

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_Some of the original comments on this chapter when it was originally posted:_

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	4. Downtown, the Morning After

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A mysterious source sends the Crescent Tribune a video of the bridge explosion and it captures Castiel's 'Comet' self as he rescued the trapped motorist. But is the video the real thing or a hoax?

Christina sat tapping the end of her ball point pen on the conference table. One eyebrow was raised with a slightly sarcastic tilt to her head and a suppressed smirk on her lips. “Chuck, you can’t be serious.”

Across the table from her sat Chuck Shurley, her Editor and Chief of Crescent City’s main news paper, the Crescent Tribune. Near him was Ash Miles, their online web presence editor and several other key reporters and editors at the paper. Ash had been showing them video footage taken from someone’s cell phone of the bridge tragedy that had stunned the city the evening before. They had been up all night getting the evening edition reworked with coverage of the explosion and the bridge’s subsequent partial collapse. They had also been giving current by the minute updates on their website of the tragedy. But at some point around three o’clock in the morning, someone had emailed this cell phone video footage to Ash and they had been scrambling since then to authenticate its origin.

“We don’t know who else was sent this…. If we don’t run it, show on the website, someone else will. I’m shocked it’s not already plastered all over YouTube.” Chuck ran his hand through his thick head of dark blonde hair and looked at Christina with exasperation.

“We are dangerously close to becoming….I don’t know….TMZ with this….” Christina set her pen down with a smart thwack against the table. “That flying….man? What the hell was that? Are we sure the video wasn’t altered?” She leaned forward, imploring Chuck, “If we air this and it turns out that some University students in the film department created that flying thing with special effects we can kiss our reputation good bye.”

Ash had been seated back, rocking lightly in his chair and watching the exchange between the two of them, “I know I said I didn’t have the means to be able to tell if the video was altered, but I have a friend who might.”

“Why didn’t you say that before?” Chuck groaned.

“I said ‘might’” Ash slipped casually up out of his chair and held up one finger on each hand, “Just….chill out.” And he left the conference room as he pulled his cell phone from his pocket. He let the door glide shut behind him as he flipped the phone open and walked out into the maze of cubicles that comprised the bulk of the newsroom. He searched for a name in his contacts list on his phone until he found the one he was looking for. He hit the ‘call’ button and cupped the phone to his ear. A moment later a voice answered on the other end. “Sam?” Ash smiled, “You busy man? Cuz if you can get your lanky ass down to the paper I got a freelance consulting gig for you….”

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If a person were to walk out of the main lobby of the glassy and shimmering building the Crescent Tribune called home and turn right, then walked four city blocks along Ocean Avenue, it would place that person out in front of Crescent City’s massive cement structure that was its City Hall. It had been built in the mid-1970s with the idea that it would be modern and impressive with its ground to sky black wide strips of metal at its four corners and its unyielding cement grey exterior walls. Where the building the Tribune was in was airy and sparkling, City Hall was heavy and oppressive.

The current Mayor, Roderick Crowley, actually loved City Hall. He loved the power it conveyed and he loved how it ran efficiently and he loved how his office window on the top floor let him look out over the city fanned out below.

Which is what he was doing now as he cradled a china cup of dark tea in his hands. His jacket was hung over the back of one of the leather chairs in his spacious office, and he had rolled his sleeves up over his forearms. He had also been up all night because of the bridge tragedy and his red rimmed eyes showed the strain.

Behind him, Police Commissioner Robert Singer paced a little as he pinched at the bridge of his nose. He was in casual clothes, his jeans rumpled from being up all night, his plaid flannel shirt also rolled up around his forearms. A police academy baseball hat sat on his head.

Around the room various council men and women stood or sat, as well as the Fire Chief, Victor Henriksen and one of the higher standing court Judges. Among them was Councilwoman Tran. Most of them had arrived that morning and all of them were still in shock over the events at the bridge the evening prior.

“Are you sure one of your boys saw a man _flying_ around after the explosion?” Singer looked over to Henriksen. He said it gently and without accusation.

“Not only saw, he got photos.” Henriksen paused to slap a large manila envelope onto the Mayor’s desk. “And we have a witness who says the flying man saved her when she was trapped in her car.”

“There was nothing about a flying man in the news this morning, or last night. “ Mrs. Tran spoke up, “We can’t be this lucky to not have it all over the news yet.”

Mayor Crowley raised his hand and slowly turned to regard his esteemed associates, “I’m really not interested in the flying man at the moment ladies and gentlemen. We’ve been dealing with these vigilante vermin for some time now. We’ll be able to swat this little fly in due process.” He crossed over to his desk and set down his tea cup very gently. “No…. what I _need_ to know is where the hell that bomb came from and who put it there.” His voice escalated with irritation. “Do we want the Governor in on this? He’s already called me twice since last night. Or the FBI maybe? How do you think that will look to the citizens of this fair city if their own **elected officials** can’t handle a crisis like this?!”

“Simmer down Roddy.” Singer glared at the Mayor, “Our CSI team has been crawling all over it since last night and Vic’s bomb squad guys too. We’re expecting their preliminary analysis later this morning. Looks like it was a ladder chain of explosives rigged to go off in a cascade. Whoever did this did it with military training.”

Mayor Crowley looked at Commissioner Singer and raised one careful brow, “So you have leads.”

Singer gave him a snarky smile, “And a list of suspects. But we may not be able to keep the FBI out of this.”

The Mayor just nodded, then reached over to finger the edge of the envelope Cheif Henriksen had dropped on his desk. Then he looked pointedly around the room, “We lost six people. Six people died on our bridge last night. SIX VOTERS. On OUR bridge. I want whoever caused this nightmare…” His voice dropped to a cold timber, “…and I want them clapped in irons in our darkest jail cell and I want it ten minutes ago.”

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Luckily for Ash, Sam had been sitting a few blocks away from the Tribune building at one of the more popular downtown coffee shops, The Keen Bean. It was a cozy place with big over stuffed couches, shaggy rugs and a big cylindrical fireplace in the center. They played acoustic guitar music over their sound system and had local artists showcase their paintings on the walls. It was near enough to the downtown business crowd that it became quite busy around lunch, and it was close enough to the University that it was popular with the student population at night.

Sam got a chai to go for himself and bought a straight black cup of joe to bring to Ash. Soon his long gait was taking him down along Ocean Avenue towards the Tribune building. The day was sunny and bright, a hard contrast to last night’s disaster and gloom. He passed local businesses with signs in their windows conveying sympathy to the victims and their families, and he thought to himself how much worse things could have been if traffic hadn’t been at a crawl or if all the lanes had been open. More people could have died. It could have been so much worse.

Sam paused as he caught his thoughts drifting back four years ago to a movie theater fire, and the chaos that had erupted. Flashing memories of the flames and the smoke. The feeling of Ruby’s hand slipping from his grasp. An image of her face as she was swallowed by the panicked crowd and the echo of her voice as she called and called and called for him….”SAM!!”

Sam turned his face away from the sun and pretended to look into a store front window at the furniture showcased within. He squeezed his eyes closed, forcing the growing tears out of his eyes. He brought one arm up and roughly smeared them against the sleeve of his jacket, careful not to spill his or Ash’s cups. He took a deep breath and turned to continue walking….and found Ash standing there looking at him.

Ash’s mouth was open and his face was held as if he was primed up for some sarcastic comment about window shopping, but his face fell when he saw Sam’s eyes. Sheepishly he said, “I, uh, thought I’d come meet you halfway.” He wiggled one of the news paper’s staff iPads in his hand, “Plus this is kinda hush hush and we didn’t want the whole newsroom catching wind of it.”

Sam just nodded and extended the cup he had brought for Ash. Ash took it with a grateful smile and they started walking back along the street until they came to a public bench. Ash slid down on it to sit and set his cup aside. He tapped on the iPad and cued up a video, then handed the pad to Sam as he sat down.

Sam cradled the iPad in one hand and watched. The video opened with a shaking shot of billowing smoke, then as the person capturing the video got their sense of direction; it zoomed out to show the base of the bridge pylon. Another explosion erupted, and the bridge made an appalling sound. The video then swung up to frame the horrifying image of several cars falling through the air to slam into the water below. A moment later the video was capturing more debris and another vehicle plummeting from the bridge. Sam winced and glanced with a pained look to Ash’s face.

“No no no… keep watching.”The words came out of Ash tense and short.

Sam resumed. Now the video was zooming in, focusing on one car teetering dangerously on the edge of the torn bridge. A blinding light flashed and swelled behind the car, and then suddenly a shimmering flying man swung into view. He glowed like a small star and left a hazy trail of vapor behind him as he moved. He effortlessly rescued the car, then winged down under the bridge looking for something. Just as the flying man seemed to find and focus on the damaged pylon, something caught his attention and he sailed back up again. It was here in the video that he could clearly see Dean hanging off the side of the bridge. Sam hit the pause button.

“You aren’t showing this on the website are you? Where did it come from?” Sam’s horrified expression continued.

“It was sent to my email. I’ve got a trace working to find the ISP origin right now. Obviously someone on the ground in the shipping yards shot it.” Ash looked at Sam and began to plead. “We need to know if it’s real. If the flying guy was really there or added in later. I know you can do this….” Ash brought his fingers up and made spazzing motions. When all Sam gave in return was another pained look Ash sighed, “We won’t show the cars plummeting to their deaths. We aren’t that kind of news machine. Cripes Sam, Chuck would be too terrified of the lawsuits and Christine would remove my head with her bare hands if I posted that. We want the flying man….”Ash tapped on the edge of the iPad with his fingers. “Hell, remove Dean if you can. We just need this….this Comet guy.”

Sam raised his eyebrows, “Comet Guy?”

“I just made that up just now. You like it?” Ash gave a hopeful grin.

“Ash, you got them to start calling me ‘Electro’.”Sam pulled out one of his classic bitch faces and said sourly, “Electro. I sound like a kitchen appliance.”

“What? No….. It’s sexy!” Ash beamed a high wattage smile, “Look, just take the iPad, work your funky charm on the video and find out if it’s been tampered with. I’ll get five hundred bucks into your PayPal.” He wiggled his brows for emphasis.

Sam turned off the iPad, set his chai down and began to pack the iPad away into his backpack. Once that was done he picked up his cup and stood. He looked down at Ash and pointing a finger at his friend still sitting down said, “Fine. And Bobby will want his people to study the explosion footage so be ready to hand that over to him.” Sam went to turn and then stopped, “And please….not ….’Comet Guy’ okay? Use something like….’The Comet’ alright?”

Ash simply gave a grin and a thumbs up to Sam as he walked away.

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_Some of the original comments on this chapter when it was originally posted:_

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	5. The Man in the Trench Coat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Benny shifts gears and Dean can't seem to handle a simple fact finding Q&A

Benny Lafitte slapped the newspaper down onto the table and pushed it across to the man opposite him. The room they were in was small and decrepit, with dirty windows and even dirtier walls. The only furniture was the table and two rusting metal framed chairs that gave small high whines when they shifted. Benny stood and paced then, and as he did he would glance hard at the man, waiting for him to read the headline in front of him. When all the man did was push it away from him like it was a cold meal he didn’t want to eat, Benny stopped pacing.

“I didn’ sign up for this brother. Not….THIS.” Benny slammed the flat of his hand down on the paper and shoved it back in front of the man. “A single mom and her kid?! Hell no. A workin’ guy who was just tryin’ ta get home to his family?! You told me no one would get hurt.”

“Benny….Benny…. you can’t have been that naïve. Truly. What did you think we wanted the explosives _for_?” The other man leaned back in his chair and rested his hands lightly on the top of his thighs. The chair made a sound like a small animal dying and it made Benny grit his teeth.

“To blow up some rich guy’s car when he wasn’ sittin’ in it or to put holes in the sides of some corporation’s goods containers….not kill people. And not kill kids for cripes sake! I thought we were gonna protest th’ lack ah jobs here, work with th’ unions, align with th’ student anarchy groups. Stir thangs up. Get the protests goin’! Not….kill….” Benny’s ice blue eyes grew harder and angrier and as they did they began to fade to white. “I’m out Luc. I won’t be part ah this. This ain’t bringin’ about change. This is jus’ playin’ the same ol’ game an makin’ it bloodier.”

The other man just held his eyes on Benny a long moment, a sly grin creeping across his features as his eyes crinkled up, “You tried to stop the explosion yesterday didn’t you? You went down there when Ruby told you what I had done. _You tried to save those people_.”The last of his words came out in a mocking tone.

Benny straightened and said nothing, just staring hard back at Luc.

“Fine.” Luc replied, “Go. Get out.”

Benny frowned and squared off his shoulders as if he was expecting some sort of attack, unsure if it would be verbal or physical but he was obviously expecting more resistance.

“Fine. Good.” Benny finally said.

Just as Benny moved to leave the room Luc said, “But Benny… stay out of my way, or I’ll make sure the cops are lead right to you for this. Understand?” Luc’s grin dried up into a frightening grimace and he leveled a look at Benny that made the room drop several degrees in temperature.

“Don’t be a hero Benny. Heroes get dead.”

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Just south of the harbor where the downtown came kissing its edges to the ocean there was a small inlet surrounded by parks. There was an outdoor amphitheater, an art museum, several restaurants, a large Ferris wheel that was rimmed with coloured lights and originally, a wooden roller coaster. The roller coaster was gone now, having faded into disrepair and having been removed for safety. Now an old World War II battleship sat anchored in the water, open for tours and beside it was docked an early nineteenth century Brigantine ship. It was a beautiful wooden craft with two masts and it was used for tours up and down the coastline. Her name was ‘The Seraphim’ and it was painted in lovely gold letters across a carved wood archway over her dock.

It was next to this archway that Dean stood now, watching the sun creep slowly down on the horizon over the ocean. He was wearing his usual dark cargo pants and his hooded jacket, though the hood was back off his head and his goggles were tucked deep into his pockets. He was leaning back against one of the metal posts that lined up along the top of the seawall and he was watching the crowd that was gathering around along the water. A local radio station was holding a candle vigil in honor of the bridge disaster victims, and trying to raise money for the funeral expenses for the families. People wandered about carrying tokens of remembrance, candles, posters and flowers.

Sam was further north, at the elementary school of the little girl that had died, attending the vigil they were holding there for her with her fellow students. Both brothers had decided to attend the events, to scope the crowd and see if they could pick up clues or perhaps see something or someone that might lead them to whomever planted the explosives at the bridge. Or better yet, meet up with the mystery person who had called Bobby from a pay phone and warned the Commissioner about “ _how the halo was going to be blown from the sky_ ” which in turn led Sam and Dean to be on Halo Bridge barely moments before it blew. Because it was a pay phone call, and because the voice was distorted, even Sam couldn’t trace the source.

Dean tucked his hands deeper into his pockets and tried to blend in, tried to look relaxed. He hunched up his shoulders lightly so that his chin dipped down into the front space of his jacket and skimmed the crowd with his eyes one more time. So far no one stood out or looked even remotely suspicious and that had him worried. He badly wanted a lead.

Dean pushed away from the post and began to meander through the crowd. He noted that people were starting to place flowers and candles around one bench area that came out over the water slightly, and where you could see the spires of Halo Bridge faintly in the distance. He paused, allowing people to walk in front of him as they moved around. He was about to turn around and go the other way when a man in a trench coat caught his eye.

The man had a shock of dark hair tufted haphazardly on his head and whose coat and suit seemed just slightly too large for his frame. He was carrying a white pillar candle and moving slowly to the edge of the sea wall, and his face was this flat stoic rigidness that seemed out of place in the crowd of mourners. Dean watched the man approach the lip of the wall and sit down so that his legs and feet dangled over the edge. The back of the tan trench coat pooled out behind him on the cement. The man set the candle down to his right, folded his hands in his lap and just stared out over the water at the sunset. Then the man made the smallest gesture, a simple tilt of his head that brought his face to a different angle. It allowed the lights from the ships on the water to halo slightly around the man’s head and it somehow pinged some sort of recognition in Dean’s mind.

Dean began to wrack his brain to remember where he had seen this man before. Police mug shots? Was this someone he had rescued one awful night? Maybe he had been a customer at the garage and that was where he had seen him? Was he a friend of Sam’s from the University, a professor perhaps? Dean couldn’t nail it down and it set his hunter instincts on edge. Dean bit his lip and reached into his pockets briefly rummaging through the kit he had on hand. He discovered a banged up plastic lighter and a devious grin crept sideways along his mouth.

Dean stepped back and away, circling around to approach from a different direction. He walked casually and as he got near the man in the trench coat, he let the lighter slip out of his grasp and when it hit the cement, it ricocheted once with a thin clack sound off the cement to arc and hit exactly where Dean wanted it to: The side of the man’s thigh. In turn it came to an unceremonious halt right beside Dean’s target. There was a full second of a pause and then….

“Excuse me sir?” The man in the trench coat was calling to Dean.

Dean pulled up and turned around, pretending as if looking for who might have called him. The trench coat man was standing now, Dean’s lighter grasped in his fingers. They made eye contact and….

Dean stopped. There have been few moments in Dean’s life where something made his heart pause and the air in his lungs just simply catch. The first time he started up the engine of his 1967 Chevy Impala. The first time Sam had run up on his chubby eighteen month old legs and plowed into Dean with a huge hug. The first time he had ever saved anyone’s life and they had embraced him with grateful tears and thanked him for his help. And now this. They weren’t the most captivating eyes he had ever seen on another person, but they were the most interesting. There was an intensity to them that went deeper than the surface and a resonance in their color that made Dean think of the deepest parts of the ocean where ancient secrets still dwelled and mermaids swam. Out of nowhere, the still small voice in the back of his head said, “This is it Dean.” And he had no clue what that meant.

“I think you dropped this.” The man was speaking and his hand was extended, offering Dean back his lighter. The man’s voice was just as interesting as his eyes, carrying a low rumble but having a layer of a tenor quality that sort of rode in tandem with the baritone.

“Uh, yea….thanks.” Dean gave off a junior high school smile he hadn’t worn in years and plucked the lighter from the man’s fingers. For a half second Dean couldn’t get his head in order and the man simply nodded and started to turn away.

“You…uh…here for the radio thing?” Dean winced at the words coming out of his mouth. He praised heaven that Sam wasn’t here to see him botch a simple fact find like this with his sudden goofiness.

The man paused, canted his head slightly and regarded Dean, as if he was just now really looking at Dean. His mouth moved slightly and then he said hesitantly, “Y…yes.”

“Yea, sad about those families huh?” Dean kept his eyes off the other man’s and instead focused on the man’s nose, then his chin, then oddly the man’s lips.

“It was a profanation.” The man said this and turned to face Dean more directly, his expression never changing and his arms hanging oddly at his sides.

“A what?” Dean asked.

“Profanation…. the act of profaning; desecration; defilement….something blasphemous.” The man dropped his eyes then, and Dean thought he caught the brimming edges of a deep sadness before they flicked down.

Dean just nodded and shoved his lighter back into his pocket. He took a tentative step closer to the man and said quietly, “Did you…lose…a family member?”

The man shook his head no. “I was just on the bridge when it happened.” The man’s shoulders slumped as he spoke and his head dropped down.

“Oh.” Dean said and then instinctively lifted his hand out towards the other man, his palm up as if offering something.

“I should have…. _saved them_ ” He said but a loud voice called out over the PA for the event directing people to cluster closer to one area and the announcement covered his words so Dean couldn’t hear them.

“What did you just say?” Dean bent a bit to get a clear line of sight on the man’s mouth but the man just shook his head, turned and walked away.

“Wait!” Dean called but the man slipped into the thick of the crowd and moved quickly away from Dean. Dean pushed through after him, but soon he couldn’t see the dark head of hair or the trench coat anywhere. He was very swiftly lost in the throng of people.

“Son of a bitch.”

_(to be continued)_

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_Some of the original comments on this chapter when it was originally posted:_

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	6. Burning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another unexpected emergency sets The Hunter, Electro and The Comet on the same course.

Sometimes the city seems vast and disconnected. You walk along the sidewalk of one neighborhood and turn the corner and suddenly you feel as if you are in another place entirely. Sometimes this has to do with the architecture when one part of the city was built in the 1920s and another was ripped up in the 1970s and replaced with more modern structures. But sometimes there are areas where it all blends in together, where a patchwork of history exists and it works like a kaleidoscope of textures and cultures and colours and sounds.

Castiel was lucky enough to live in one of those neighborhoods. He was about ten blocks from the edges of the downtown area, and about six from the University campus. He was two blocks from the ‘Gay Ghetto’ which was the opposite of a ghetto, yet affectionately named that by the active gay community that lived there. He was a block and a half from a thriving Barrio and from the Hispanic Arts museum. There was a popular botanica nearby where he could buy the florida water he used as cologne and an excellent Thai restaurant that had the best khao tom Castiel had ever tasted. And there was a tea shop that sold the rooibos tea he loved within walking distance of his front door.

His apartment was a small one bedroom on the third floor of its building. The apartment had a main room that functioned as kitchen, dining area and living room in one. Then there was a tiny bedroom with an even tinier closet, and the bath off of that. The bath had a shower that was unreliable, and sometimes you had to soap up with the water off because once it was on the temperature could fluctuate wildly regardless of where the hot or cold knobs were set. There was a small half window in the bath and one window in the kitchen area. Both looked out at the solid blank wall of the building next door and the tiny slot of an alley below. It was sparse and sometimes the neighbors were inconsiderate with their noise levels, but it was fine for now.

Castiel had figured out how to balance sitting on the edge of the open kitchen window on hot days to get a breeze, and that is where he was seated now in the late evening. From there he could peek at the sky between the roofs of the two buildings and sometimes see the moon. Tonight however his eyes were on his hands has he wrung them against his chest and his thoughts were on berating himself for not thinking to search for other lives to save on the bridge that day. And then those thoughts spiraled into self recriminations for being too frightened in the first place to access his powers. He clenched his hands into tighter fists and his stomach knotted up into an ugly place inside him. The other two men there hadn’t shown fear and the newspaper stories told how they had helped to save many people that day. Why couldn’t he be more like them?

“All you have done is run from this Castiel” his inner voice said, “From the moment this happened in the lab, fleeing Illinois to move here and then living in solitude, working temp jobs, you’ve been running…..but not running from the lab accident…..running from yourself….running from what you can do.”

Castiel let out a long shuddering sigh and brought his eyes up to land on the kitchen cabinet not far from him. He considered bringing out the bottle of gin he had sitting inside, but then turned away to look into the alley below him.

It was then that he heard it. The sound of fire truck sirens nearby, racing towards some emergency. His hands relaxed and he leaned further out of his window to listen. The fear, the apprehension, welled up from his stomach again. He pulled back to stand inside his apartment and looked down at his bare feet. His mind suddenly thought of the two men, The Hunter and Electro. How often were their names in the paper for saving lives. Helping people. Surely they had fears too? And they were able to overcome them.

Castiel set his jaw in a hard line and began to undo his trousers. He dropped them and his boxers to the floor and stepped out. He pulled his shirt off and dropped it on the floor. Nude, he went to the window and paused.

He took in a slow breath that filled up his lungs from their depths to the top. Then just as slowly as he brought it in, he let it sift out through his nose. By the time his lungs were ready to draw in another breath Castiel’s head was clear. He flashed his eyes up to the sky and flared on his power. It came like a push of vapor, ice and hazy pale blue flame bathing him in a rushing column of softy hissing energy. He felt his body lift ever so slightly free of gravity’s pull and he felt the surge of strength inside him. He placed one foot on the window sill, leaned out and launched himself into the air.

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Dean had swung by the garage on his way home from the candle light vigil to rummage through the customer files so see if any names jogged his memory. He knew he had met the guy in the trench coat before and it was making him stark crazy trying to place the face. He was also really kicking himself for not opening up his Hunter perceptions on the guy. Drink in his scent, feel out the guy’s pulse, taste the air around him, imprint him into Dean’s mind so he could track him. The guy had definitely crawled into his head space for a reason, and Dean had learned not to ignore it when that happened.

He was deep into the computer files skimming work orders when the sound of emergency sirens caught his ears. He sat up and listened a moment, reaching out with his Hunter perceptions. He listened as more and more sirens came, discerning the difference in each siren from their different vehicles. He counted at least four engines and two ladders and when the scent of scorched smoke hit his wide open scent perceptions he stood up. He quickly flicked off the office computer and leapt over the desk and ran out the office door.

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The school was burning.

Blackened smoke teased up by angry red orange flames punched up through windows and the roof. The auditorium, the gymnasium, class rooms, the library, the offices… all of it was raging and ravaged by fire. The smoke billowed out and swathed across the playground covering the entire block like a war zone. Emergency vehicles screamed around the corners and shook to a halt, peeling rubber on asphalt as they slammed to a stop around the school. Firemen and rescue workers still shaken from the bridge disaster snapped into their professional personas and left their hesitation behind as they poured from their vehicles. Across the street, lined up and crowding along the sidewalks were the children, parents, teachers and staff that had been attending the candle vigil at the school when the fire alarms had gone off. It had given them all ample time to leave the buildings and gather safely away.

None of them knew it, but they had Sam to thank for that. Sam and the mystery informant who had pinged his cell phone with a text message telling him another series of bombs were planted at the school and set to detonate that night during the vigil. Sam hadn’t bothered to trace the call, instead reaching out with his power through the walls to confirm the presence of wires and timing devices everywhere within the buildings. He had tripped the alarms with his electrical power and then as parents and children and the rest escaped the building, he had gone in search of the closest detonation device. He was in the process of disarming it when the others had blown sending the buildings into a raging inferno.

Sweat was running down his cheek and neck now as the temperature in the room kept climbing. He was bent over focused on the knot of wires in front of him on the floor of the science room. He had kept this unit from detonating, but the bomb was still active and if he lost control of the flux of electricity on the bundle it would blow up in his face. He had both hands wrapped around the front of the device and at the moment, merely held everything in check while he mentally reached in to figure out how it had been put together.

Smoke was filling the room now, and Sam realized he was starting to choke and cough in spite of being down close to the floor. He could hear the flames seething against the far wall but he couldn’t let himself dwell on it.

If he could just…..there it was. The external feedback circuit buried in the maze of wires. He shifted his right hand ever so slowly, wiggling and threading one finger closer and closer to that circuit.

There was a loud sound behind him, and he felt a flood of heat rush against and over him. He steadied himself and kept his focus as sweat cascaded off him. He shut his eyes from the smoke and the sweat, burying his mind into his electrical senses. Closer and closer he came to the circuit. To his left he heard pops and cracks as the science lab burned, and the heat starting to blister his clothing.

Just as he touched the circuit and sent a spark to fry it out, there was a deafening sound from his left and a force knocked him sideways as he still clutched the device. The room was crumbling around him in flames and smoke.

“SAM?!?!”

Another loud pop as beakers and glass in the lab broke in the heat.

“SAM!!!!!”

Dean pushed through part of a fallen wall and rushed to his brother’s side. Sam tried to sit up as he coughed and hacked. Dean pried the device out of Sam’s hands, stuffed it into Sam’s jacket and zipped it up tight. Then he hitched his hands under Sam’s arms and helped him get to his feet. He got Sam’s arm around his shoulder and began to haul his brother out of the room the way he had come. They stumbled together into the next room, and then into the hall. Then up a flight of stairs that held no flames but plenty of smoke. Dean was guiding them using his hunter perceptions, listening and sniffing his way without the use of his eyes. They made it to the third floor where the smoke was thinner and then along the hallway aiming for the window at the end where a fire escape installed on the side of the building would allow them to get out.

Dean was so focused on the smell of fresh air beyond the window that he missed how the floor of the hall was bubbling and dimpling beneath their feet. They were fifteen feet from the exit when the floor was suddenly slipping away under them into the inferno below. Using all his strength Dean shoved Sam along, launching him onto the part of the floor that remained intact in front of them. Sam stumbled and flopped forward safely away from the edge.

Dean however fell back and began to tumble headlong into the blaze two floors down. In an instant he knew he was done for. His hunter perceptions told him there were no edges to reach and catch on, no cables to grasp and save himself. Just air and gravity and a sea of fire that was below him, but because he was upside down it all looked like a canvas coming to cover his head. He was falling and the heat was rushing to meet him. He shut his eyes, shut his perceptions and grit his teeth.

There was suddenly an odd pressure on his shoulder, and then abrupt freezing cold that in a strange way felt as if it were burning his skin. Something was gripping him and Dean’s eyes flew open.

It was the Comet.

The strange shimmering man seethed with an icy radiance and his hand was planted against Dean’s arm stopping Dean’s fall. In the next second the Comet shoved upwards and Dean felt himself reverse, flailing back upwards through the air. Dean sailed up and landed with a thump beside Sam under the escape window.

He and Sam grabbed each other and fled out the window, but Dean paused and glanced back to see the Comet twisting and rushing through the flames, passing his hands against them and snuffing them out. Then Sam was pulling him out of the window onto the fire escape and they were gone.

\-------------------------------------------------------

Hours later Castiel landed lightly on his open window sill in his kitchen. He rolled his shoulders and shut down his power. It sifted off him in icy vapors, curling like pale violet and blue incense around him and the window frame. He lowered himself into his apartment and stood still a moment. He stretched and then wandered naked over to his bed. Exhausted, he let himself flop down onto the covers, his face nuzzling his pillow. A small pleased smile bloomed on his lips and he closed his eyes. He felt happy. Not only had he help put out the fire, but he had saved another life….the Hunter’s life. And he had seen the Hunter’s face without his hood or his goggles, and the look of astonishment in the man’s green eyes had been wondrous.

Suddenly Castiel’s eyes flew open as he recognized the Hunter’s face and eyes from early at the candle vigil on the water front. He blinked fast once and then again. The Hunter was the man who had dropped his lighter and had spoken with Castiel. “I know who he is….I know who the Hunter is.”

\-------------------------------------------------------

Blocks away Dean was grimacing as Sam helped him peel off his jacket. Where the Comet had gripped him, the jacket had been scorched away exposing Dean’s flesh. What was left was a bright hand print branded onto Dean’s arm where the Comet had touched him. It hurt like hell, but Dean would take it in trade for being alive. It also gave the added bonus of leaving a lingering trace scent, and Dean drank that in for all it was worth. He might not be able to hunt down the man in the trench coat, but he sure as hell could track the Comet now. Between that and salvaging the bomb device, they had big leads.

Dean grinned at Sam, “This is awesome.”

_(to be continued)_

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_Some of the original comments on this chapter when it was originally posted:_

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	7. And the Heroes?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mayor Crowley holds a press conference. The mystery informant's identity is revealed. And we learn what the end game goal is for our villain.

The press gallery for City Hall was in a room on the first floor, but back away beyond the lobby and the entrance onto Ocean Avenue. It held windows along the back wall that viewed the garden that had been constructed on the roof of the submerged parking structure adjacent to City Hall itself. To the right as you walked in were emergency exit doors and to the left was an austere but plain beige curtain covering that wall’s length and a raised platform. On the platform there was a wood podium with the city crest plaque on its front and to either side stood the state flag and the flag of the United States of America. The rest of the room was filled with basic chairs and in all; it wasn’t any way different from a thousand other rooms just like it in cities all across the country.

Except that today it was crammed with people from the press. City newspapers, press liaisons from the Governor’s office, national newspaper reporters, local radio news people and a three national television crews were pack in with little standing room left. Barely twelve hours ago one of Crescent City’s schools had erupted into flames and less than forty-eight hours previously the Halo Bridge had suffered a devastating explosion, and now the world wanted to know what Mayor Crowley and his administration was doing about it.

The Mayor’s office Public Relations spokesperson had entered a moment ago, and now journalists and reporters were settling down, cameras trained and note pads ready. Concern and determination to draw out the best story possible for their viewers and readers was forefront on their minds. The P.R. person spoke, outlining the basics of the address the Mayor was about to give them, as well as outlining criteria for questions following.

Christina sat in the second row tapping her pen absently against her note pad. Her face was placid and detached hiding the ferocity brewing in her mind. Ash had received another video of the blaze, as well as footage of The Comet, Electro and The Hunter on the scene in his email from their mysterious informant. She was itching to toss that out to see what the Mayor’s reaction would be. He was notorious for being antagonistic to the ‘vigilante vermin’ as he referred to them, and she was wondering if he was going to use these tragedies to try to turn public opinion against them finally. The “heroes” had certainly helped with the rescue on the bridge, and The Comet had helped to put out the school fire… but Christina thought it awfully convenient that all three were at both scenes so quickly. ‘It’s as if they were already there ahead of time’ she scribbled on the first page of her notes. Could they be responsible for both tragedies? It was something she wanted to investigate.

For one brief moment Christina felt as if there were eyes on the back of her head. A light tingle ran up her spine and it made a faint ghosting of goose bumps pepper her arms. She turned to scan the crowded room, but couldn’t make out anyone specific looking at her. She huffed out a breath and then turned back to the platform.

The Mayor entered and took his place behind the podium. He rested his hands lightly along its top edges and gave a mild look out to the gathered crowd. Unlike previous press conferences, he was just wearing his simple shirt with the sleeves rolled up, his top button undone and his necktie missing. The wear of the last two days was evident in his sunken red rimmed eyes. He drew in a deep breath, flattened his mouth to a hard line and stretched his chin up.

“Ladies and Gentlemen of the press, esteemed colleagues….Thank you for coming today….” Mayor Crowley started out his prepared speech, his cadence and attitude pure politician through and through. He outlined the steps the police department was making to apprehend the criminals responsible. He discussed the fire department and emergency personnel heroism. He talked about the tragedy of the lives lost and about the scars left on the community. He gave a stirring call to action, asking the citizens of the city to come together in this dire time of crisis.

He said everything right and everything the world needed to hear from him. But he never once mentioned the heroes’ involvement in any way.

Christina narrowed her eyes and smiled. She turned once to see where the Tribune staff photographer was positioned and then as she turned back, someone at the back of the room caught her eye. He was tall, with broad shoulders and a reddish blond beard streaked with silver. He had steel blue eyes that could cut through the night like a lighthouse and a laugh that was like Christmas morning, both exciting and comforting at the same time. She knew all this, because the man at the back of the room was Benny Lafitte, her boyfriend. She quirked an eyebrow in his direction and wondered why he was there and not at work on the docks, or more importantly how he had gotten in without a press pass. He saw her look, and simply smiled that half cocked smile that always made her knees weak. Then he nodded to the front of the room. She scowled in return and brought her attention back to the Mayor.

He had opened the floor to questions and one of the network journalists was asking what affect the Mayor felt this would have on the next elections here in the city. He replied, making it clear that he felt the citizens had every confidence in his staff and administration to get the job done. Mayor Crowley’s skills at handling the press were usually effortless and on target.

And then Christina raised her hand and the Mayor nodded to her, but she noted how he gripped the podium just a little tighter.

“Mayor Crowley,” Christina went ahead and stood up as she addressed him, “You haven’t discussed the issue of the assistance the city received in the rescues on the bridge and in putting out the fire last night.”

“I’m sorry Ms Ronald, I have no idea what it is you are referring.” Mayor Crowley said cooly.

“The Comet….The Hunter. Electro? All three were placed on scene for both events. Eye witness footage was given to this news paper showing clearly their assistance with the emergency response for both tragedies. Does your office have a statement on that?” Christina let her calm professional face show for the room, but inside she was grinning like a predatory cat.

Mayor Crowley tensed and drew in a deep breath. Flashbulbs went off all around the room, a murmur ran through the crowd and other journalists’ hands shot up into the air.

“I’m sorry, but we do not have an official comment on that matter at this time.” Mayor Crowley released his hold on the podium and stepped back slightly.

“I have statements from members of the Fire Department exemplifying the three men’s actions on both occasions saying that they helped avert further disaster……” Christina continued, pressing the issue.

Mayor Crowley was silent a moment and then he dropped his gaze off the throng in front of him. He brushed his knuckle against his nose and then looked up again. He stepped firmly around the podium and placed his hands on his hips. He looked around the room a moment and then reached for the microphone on the podium. He unhooked it and brought it around to where he could speak into it. “It is, and shall remain, the policy of this office not to encourage the reckless and unsanctioned actions of civilian vigilantes. The populace of this fine city has perfectly capable fire and police officers, well able to handle any crisis situation that is brought their way. My confidence in THEM and their professional duty remains. No more questions today. Thank you.” He replaced the microphone and exited among a flurry of shouts from the press and more photo flashes.

Christina stood back with her weight on one foot and let a satisfied smile creep over her lips. She scribbled “…so… mayor is gonna play it that way is he?...” on her notepad.

“Darlin’, you sure are one helluva trouble maker….” A voice like warm liquor and the night sea came at her ear and Christina felt a gentle but firm hand at her elbow.

“What are you doing here Benny?! How did you get in??” Christina turned to face him, both delight and her reporter’s nature showing through.

He had a slightly pleased smirk on his face that showed how proud he was of her needling the Mayor. “We need ta talk Darlin’…..in private. Now.” His mirth suddenly shifted and he looked around the room as if it had become a dangerous place.

Puzzled, Christina followed his gaze and she was about to protest when he looked back into her eyes. His own blue irises were now fading swiftly to a milky white and his hand on her elbow gripped with a stubborn firmness. His expression was deathly serious as if he would broach no argument from her.

“Okay…okay…sure…sure…” She pointed to the entry doors that led back to the main lobby. “Outside?”

“No.. too exposed.” He looked back to the exits on the far wall. “Th’ parkin’ garage.”

Her curiosity over rode her confusion and she nodded her agreement. He quickly guided her to the exit and they left.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Luc tapped a button on the television remote silencing the broadcast of the Mayor’s press conference. In his other hand he held a wine glass, a local merlot swirling lazily as he rolled the glass in his fingers. He was seated in a low slung expensive leather chair in a spacious loft apartment, and his long legs were crossed elegantly before him.

A woman came padding bare foot into the room and draped herself along the arm rest of the chair he was seated in. She reached over and gently threaded her fingers through his strawberry blonde hair. “Why do you think Crowley’s side stepping the hero issue?” She asked in a low voice.

“The public loves them. He hates them, because he can’t control them. But now…he needs them.” Luc smiled sourly then, “The Mayor is not our issue anymore.”

“Oh?” She leaned back a bit and looked at Luc’s face, her brows lifting in curiosity. It caused a lone thick blond curl to dangle over her shoulder “I thought the goal was to put him out of the office….?”

“That’s what I told the people bank rolling us.” The sour smile Luc had been wearing shifted and grew playful. Dark. Wicked. “I want to see this city burn Lilith. I want it to be charred crater on the coast of California. I want death and mayhem and terror. I want this city obliterated and I want to sign my name in blood all over it.”

Lilith simply smiled and tugged almost sexually on Luc’s hair, “And the heroes?”

“We break them and cripple the city’s hope.” He replied and took a long sip from his wine.

\-----------------------------------------------------------

“You….what?!?!” Christina stepped back. Her dark brown eyes were wide with shock and she discovered there was a growing pressure filling up her gut. Instinctively her hands went to steady herself against the side of the nearest thing she was standing beside. In this case it was a brand new Mercedes Benz as they were now on the second level of the parking garage.

Benny merely stood with his hands held in a placating gesture at his side, his expression filled with remorse. “I didn’ know Darlin’. I was hired to prepare th’ explosives. I thought it was for another use, one decidedly not for killin’. When I learned what they had done, where they had put them….”He dropped his eyes down and there was a hard catch in his breath, “I went there. I went to th’ bridge. I tried to get there to disarm them….” His broad shoulders sank a little with each word as if the weight of it was crushing him.

Christina held up one hand to stop him. She looked away, pacing out into the open space of the garage between the cars. Her eyes ran wild and empty over the pavement, looking but not focusing. She pressed one hand flat against her stomach as if to stop the fluttering there.

“You went to stop it.” She repeated, her voice thin and soft.

“Of course!” He turned to her, his voice deep with emotion. “Darlin’ you know me…..you know me…..”

She held out her hand once more to silence him as her mind raced. Then ever so slowly she turned to look at him. Her dark eyes went from wide blown open in shock to slowly narrowing into incredulous points. “You sent the videos…..”

“An’ I called that ‘Lectro fella to warn he and th’ Hunter about it….so they could be there to help stop it.” Benny took one hesitant step towards Christina. “You have to know how this is tearing me up inside Luv….I came to you as soon as I could.”

“Wait….how did you contact Electro?!” Her eyes sparked suddenly.

“This group of people that hired me….one of them…..she had ‘Lectro’s number on her cell phone.” Benny met Christina’s eyes, “I stole her cell phone and called him about the school. The bridge…I just used a payphone to call the police….I didn’t call them directly.”

“Benny….” Christina came and placed her hands into his, the brown of her eyes shimmering like amber lights, “Who is she?”

“Ruby. Ruby Masters” That smile of his was slowly tugging up one corner of his mouth.

“Benny I love you…..but….baby…. how did you get her cell phone if she’s in lock up on kidnapping charges and all her stuff is in the evidence room in the police station?!” Christina drew the burly man closer searching into his eyes carefully, her mind racing with everything he had just revealed to her.

“Darlin’ there’s a few other things I been meanin’ ta share with you.” Benny leaned down and brushed his lips across hers as he dropped his gaze. “An’ now is the time….but not th’ place. An’ we need to get to Ruby ‘for someone else does…She's not made any deals with the D.A. and I doubt she's talkin' to the cops 'bout any of this.”

Christina let off a small growl, “Then stop being a tease and let’s get going.” She nipped once at his lips and pulled away, her hands firmly bringing him along.

“You’re th’ boss Darlin’….” Benny chuckled with a low rumble and followed.

_(to be continued)_


	8. Raw Demon Lives

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Hunter is found. But what of the Comet?
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> If you are interested in hearing the music mentioned below, you can find it here:
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> http://youtu.be/T1bkotWxfgU
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> .................................

The garage that Dean was currently employed at was called The Paradise Garage. The owner, Garth, told people it was named after the famous discotheque in New York City that was so influential in creating modern dance music as we know it now, and was instrumental in later bringing about the Essential Mix show for BBC Radio 1 in the United Kingdom. Garth liked to talk about the history of dance music a lot. In fact Garth was as passionate about dance music as Dean was about classic rock. Garth was also passionate about cars, which is why Dean didn’t mind working there even if during business hours Garth pumped old Chicago house music or progressive house music tracks through the place.

This morning Garth had on something he called “a classic”. It was some set from a party in Ibiza back in 1999 and Dean found himself occasionally nodding his head to the beat as he worked in spite of himself. He would never let Sam see this, not in a million years, but the rhythm kept everyone in the garage humming along at the same pace and it kept stress down. Including him.

The garage was large, with six open working bays and a full paint shop room to do custom jobs. Garth employed six full time mechanics, Dean being one, and he had three part time guys come in during certain days when it was busy.

Today was one of those days. Many people had taken the day off work in light of the recent tragedies and things they had been putting off, like getting their oil changed or having their tires rotated were on the top of their lists of ‘things to get done’. Garth had left the Mayor’s address on in the waiting lobby for customers to view, but out in the actual garage it was loud and hustling, and bumping with the music. Dean was half way through replacing the calipers on an old 1995 Subaru wagon when one of the other mechanics, Martin, came over and nudged Dean’s arm.

“Dude, that guy in the waiting area has been eyeballing you since he came in.” Martin was wiping his hands on a rag and looking pointedly in the direction of the window in the waiting lobby that opened to view the garage, “Everyone else is glued to the TV to hear the Mayor but not that guy. I think you’re working on his car. Man I hate it when people get all overly protective and don’t trust us to be professionals……you know the other day….” Martin kept talking but Dean didn’t hear the rest.

Dean had glanced over to see the man in the window staring at him was the man in the trench coat from the candle vigil on the water front. He and Dean stared oddly at each other a moment before Dean was brought back to Martin’s conversation.

“….and I said, you know…this is what I do. It’s more than just a job right?” Martin looked to Dean for confirmation of some kind.

“Yea right….listen Martin, it’s cool. Thanks. I know the guy….” Dean lied and gave Martin a winning smile that eased his co-worker enough that Martin wandered back to what he had been doing before he had come over to Dean.

Dean looked back over at the window and the man in the trench coat was still watching him with an expressionless face. Dean gestured to the brakes on the Subaru, and then mimed out ‘twenty more minutes’ then pointed back and forth between the man and himself as if to say ‘we’ll talk’. The man in the trench coat nodded once but still remained where he was. Still watching Dean.

Dean returned to the brake unit he had been fixing, and stopped looking directly at the man. Instead he opened up his hunter perceptions and took in a deep lingering breath. In a flash he could smell everything from the burnt out cylinder pistons on the car at the other end of the garage, to the breath mints tucked into a woman’s purse in the lobby. He sorted through them all one by one, his mind touching on a scent to identify its source before moving on to the next. Then he caught it, the smell of the trench coat. The heavy cotton twill of the coat, the metal of the belt’s buckle and the interior zipper, and the rising scent of the man within it. Dean closed his eyes a moment to focus more. He could place the scent of the man’s soap, and the odd cologne he wore which was spicy yet light and airy all at once. He chased it further, drawing in another breath and instantly filtering it back to the man. Dean was hoping there would be something else but he wasn’t sure what. Explosive residue to place the man as the bomber? There was something about the guy he just couldn’t make click in his head. Frustrated, Dean shut off his perceptions and got back to work on the car.

Roughly twenty minutes later he was pulling the Subaru out to the parking slots where they left the customer’s cars when they were finished. He came into the waiting lobby and the reception desk and began processing the work order on the computer himself. Dean noted the Subaru had been in the garage a lot recently but saw that this was the first time Dean had been the one to work on it. Dean thought to himself, “So I did see him here before….but why hadn’t I _noticed_ him sooner?” Dean looked up unsurprised to find the trench coat man still looking at him, and he motioned him over to the desk.

“Castiel Novak is it? 1995 Subaru?” Dean glanced up from the computer when he sensed the other man was there on the other side of the desk. Again Dean locked onto those captivating blue eyes. The blue reminded Dean of his favourite pair of jeans, comfortable.

The man merely nodded at first and then his eyes darted to the stitched name patch on Dean’s overalls, “Yes…thank you….Dean.” And there was that voice again. That dual quality of an even mid-note layered with the deeper under tone.

“She’s all done….” Dean retrieved a print out of the job order and passed it to Castiel. First he flashed Castiel the most playfully flirty smile he had in his arsenal. Then he took a moment to run down the work on the invoice going back over everything that had been done to the car. They discussed payment and Dean ran Castiel’s debit card. When Dean handed the card back, he made sure their fingers met for just the briefest moment and Dean definitely felt a murmur of something there. it was the barest hesitation on the other man’s part to pull away. But then it was over and Castiel's hand was gone.

“Uh, hey listen…”Dean stood up and moved around the desk to face Castiel, “I noticed that one of your hubcaps is a little loose, mind if I come out to your car and show you?” Castiel Novak replied with that slight nod of his again without saying a word, his eyes tracking Dean’s eyes as if it were his natural status quo.

Once they were out beside Castiel’s car away from the noise and activity of the garage, Dean made his way around to the passenger side back wheel and bent down to show what he meant about the hub cap. But he was only half way down when Castiel reached over and touched Dean’s shoulder. Castiel shook his head no and then nodded to the side of the garage that was blocked from the street. Castiel strode over in that direction without hesitation, and Dean was caught a moment in stunned silence. Dean raised his eyebrows and suppressed a smile but he couldn’t hide the light flush that came to his cheeks. An attractive guy wanted him alone in an alley? He could handle that. Dean would hate to think all his flirting had been for nothing.

Castiel stopped and faced the wall where some gang had tagged the words ‘raw demon lives’ in rough scrawled spray paint.

Dean came over, half smiling, leaned against the wall with an easy confidence and looked over to Castiel’s eyes. “You know there is a great little pub not far from here. We could….”

“I know who you are Dean.” Castiel said flatly, “I know you are the Hunter.” His eyes slid over sideways to look at Dean now, but the rest of him remained still.

Dean’s smile had faded instantly and his whole body tensed, muscles’ coiling like springs ready for a fight. He flared open his hunter perceptions and automatically flexed to release his batons, but they weren’t with him at work so his hands simply came into loose fists. He swiftly took in Castiel’s scent again, feeling the air pressure around the other man, listening for his heartbeat, watching for telling signs of an oncoming attack.

Castiel looked back at the wall at the spray painted words, “Do you know what that means?”

Dean slid away from the wall and looked at the words briefly but then brought his eyes back to Castiel, “Who are you?” Dean voice was low and pulled into the deeper resonance he used when he was in his Hunter guise.

“I saw these same words on the base of the bridge. And at the school.” Castiel didn’t move, didn’t acknowledge Dean but kept his focus on the words on the wall.

Dean paused. He looked at the words, then he looked at Castiel. He relaxed his stance, but didn’t drop his perceptions. Castiel was calm. Very calm. Ethereally calm. His heart rate was steady and even, and the air around him was serene. Dean moved to stand beside Castiel and face at the words, but his eyes stayed on Castiel’s face.

“I don’t believe it is read as ‘lives’ with the long ‘I’ sound, as in ‘we have lives’. I think it is with the short ‘I’ sound so it’s lives. As in…this person lives.” Castiel said.

“So raw demon is a name.” Dean said.

“Yes. I think it is.” Castiel replied but did not look at Dean.

Dean turned slightly toward Castiel and reached over to take Castiel’s hand into his. Startled at the sudden touch, Castiel tensed and his eyes flew to Dean’s. Dean pulled Castiel’s hand up and he clasped it in between both of his. He took one step closer, ruining any personal space between them and kept his eyes locked on Castiel’s. Dean reached then, with his already open Hunter perceptions, drawing in a deep breath of the air close to Castiel and just began to explore. The first thing he felt was how Castiel’s pulse rate jumped up instantly. But it was the excited increase of enjoyment, not apprehension or guilt and Dean had trained himself to tell the difference between them. The next thing Dean caught was the ever so slight quiver in Castiel’s breath that was quieting now that Dean was doing nothing more with his hands than just holding on. It was Castiel’s eyes however that were the most telling. The irises deepened, as if they were being bathed in indigo ink and the pupils’ switched open wider. Behind that there was something else and a thought suddenly clicked in Dean’s mind. Something just below Castiel’s scent that was so deeply apart of Castiel it wasn’t found at the surface. It was an ozone smell, or akin to the wind on a tundra cold and powerful.

“You’re the Comet…..” Dean smiled and dropped his eyes so he could lean in closer and pull in another long inhale of the air off the skin at Castiel’s neck. When he said this, a small faint jolt ran through Castiel confirming for Dean the things that Castiel wasn’t saying. Castiel’s pulse sped up, his breathing picked up and there was this low heady thrum that started to reverberate between the two of them. Dean’s smile grew and he said in a low sensual voice, “And you like me….”

Castiel broke away and pushed his hands into his pockets. He stepped back away from Dean and kept his eyes down, “Stop. That’s not fair….using your gifts like that…. without asking me first.”

Dean dropped his hands and his smile fell, “You’re right….. I’m sorry…” and he meant it sincerely. “…you’re just so.….and I….” Dean felt his words failing him. Sometimes when he rode his perceptions open it was difficult to form his thoughts into cohesive words. He reached his hands out to Castiel and shut down his Hunter perceptions. “There. I stopped.”

Castiel flicked his gaze up at Dean and then down again quickly. “Were you aware that when you do that, your eyes glow variably? Differing shades of green.”

“Yea, it’s why I wear the goggles.” Dean chuckled.

“It is….”Castiel huffed out a quick breath, “Mesmerizing.”

The smile came back to Dean’s face full fold. “Thanks.”

Castiel rolled his eyes and groaned with mild annoyance, “It was not meant as a compliment. It could get you seen or alert someone to what you are doing. It is dangerous.”

Dean continued to smile and just nodded, “So you’re worried about me.” But before Castiel could respond Dean turned back to the words spray painted on the wall, “So tell me, _Comet_ …..what time are we meeting up for dinner to discuss who Raw Demon might be?”

Castiel made a noise that sounded like a defeated sigh, but inside he was hiding how giddy he was feeling. He was going to be working to defend the Crescent City with the Hunter. And Dean had been right. Castiel did find Dean’s presence exciting.

“I will meet you at May’s Thai Kitchen at six o’clock.” Castiel strode impassively past Dean, “Please do not be late.”

_(to be continued)_


	9. Ruby Escapes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ruby has visitors, and Castiel is met by someone he hoped he would never see again.

The holding cell was nothing. Four walls, a cot, a sink and toilet and one very small window high up that had bars and a metal mesh covering over its dingy glass. The walls were the usual cement block over painted with layers of gray and the floor was bare solid sanded cement. One wall wasn’t a wall but a series of white washed bars with the only exit built into it.

Ruby paced back and forth within, absently biting on her thumb nail as she did. This wasn’t the first cell she’s been in over the last four years, but this was the longest she had stayed in one. Usually Lilith had gotten the bail paid and she’d be out by now. But Lilith hadn’t come, and Luc hadn’t contacted her, and none of the others had either. She was beginning to wonder what the holdup was.

“Perhaps this is a test, so see if I’ll give it up and talk, make a deal with the D.A. or some shit….”Ruby thought to herself as she shuffled over the hard floor. She had the usual slip on rubber soled canvas shoes on her feet and the obnoxious orange county jail jumper so popular these days. Her thick dark hair was shoved behind her ears roughly. “What if they don’t come. What if they leave you in here? What then?” She stopped pacing and let out a small groan. Being left on her own wasn’t the problem. The problem was that if they cut her loose now, everything she had sacrificed to get here would be for nothing.

Her eyes clouded up with tears and in a weak moment she thought of Sam. How long had it been since she had seen his gentle smile directed at her? How long since they had held each other in each other’s arms? How long since she had been able to just talk to him? She swallowed hard and rubbed the tears from her eyes.

“No. Don’t be selfish. If he knew, he’d understand.” She thought. And then a small voice deep within her said, “If he knew he would still love you.”

“Fuck.” She said aloud and went to the sink to turn on the water. She doused her face in a cold splash and then shut it off. Dried her face on her sleeves. Took a deep breath and refocused. Maybe it was time to call her lawyer and post the bail that way.

“I must say Rubeh, and please don’ be upset, but orange ain’t your best color.” Benny’s soft drawl rumbled with a bit of mirth from behind Ruby.

She turned quickly, thankful at first to see him, but then drew up short when she saw the blonde woman standing beside him. The woman was looking around, her eyes wide and stunned as if she was processing how she had gotten there.

Ruby just gave Benny a hard glare and planted her feet solidly on the ground. “Who’s the tart?”

Christina snapped out of her puzzlement and nailed Ruby with an indignant look, “Excuse me?”

“Hold on ladies, let’s try this again….Ruby Masters, this is Christina Ronald….from the _Crescent City Tribune_ ….” Benny emphasized those last words.

“Lafitte you have got another thing coming if you think I am gonna sing to the press. HE’D KILL ME.” Ruby said wide-eyed and with little sarcasm.

“I’m not here for your story….at least not yet anyway Ms Masters.” Christina said earnestly.

“We’re here to spring ya.” Benny grinned. When Ruby just stood there with an unbelievable look on her face, Benny just raised his brows with an encouraging look of his own.

“Look, I get this isn’t exactly the best course of action where the legal ramifications are concerned,” Christina straightened her jacket slightly, “But from what Benny tells me this city isn’t going to be saved through the usual channels. It’s time to step our game and you can help us with that.” She nodded at Benny as she took a deep breath.

Benny gave her a slight nod and then placed his large hands over the lock mechanism of the cell door. He focused a moment, and the irises of his eyes drained of all color becoming a milky white. Slowly his hands began to move through the metal of the door as if he were ghostlike. He moved, reaching in and began to move his fingers inside the lock. After a moment there was a faint ‘click’ and the door swung open. Benny reached over to grasp Christina’s hand, and then he extended his other to Ruby in a gentlemanly fashion. Ruby hesitated for half a breath and then ran across the cell to grab Benny’s offered hand.

“Hold on ladies…” Benny almost cooed, and the white irises began to glow faintly. There was the soft sound of rustling wings as he gripped the women’s hands firmly and in an abrupt flicker of shadow they were gone.

\------------------------------------------------------

The evening drained away into a pleasant night. A soft but steady wind off the ocean kept the town chilly, but not cold. The sky was clear and clean, and the stars were as visible as they could be over the city lights. A weighted calm drifted over the city as the night wore on, as if it was holding its breath and waiting. But nothing came and the moon rose over the horizon with nothing to new to see….

….beyond Dean Winchester walking home around two o’clock in the morning with a ridiculous grin plastered across his face. He meandered his way through his neighborhood on foot having left his Baby parked at home after work, and he was enjoying the quiet night. Dinner had gone well and he found himself thinking about Castiel as he walked. About how well they had clicked over dinner. Sure Cas didn’t get all his pop culture references, but the man had a wickedly dry sense of humor and was intelligent as heck. And they had laughed a lot more than not during their time together. It left a warm tingling glow growing in Dean’s chest. He drank in a deep breath of the night air and let it hush out of his lips with a bigger smile.

“What’s that about?!” Sam’s voice came from just over Dean’s shoulder before Sam himself dropped down to the sidewalk from the wall he had been standing on. “And where were you? I thought we were patrolling tonight.” Sam was wearing his usual ‘Electro’ outfit, his goggles still in place.

“Yea sorry. Something came up.” Dean’s smile glowed.

“Yea, I get that.” Sam chuckled. “You wanna gimme a hint or do I have to smack it out of you?”

“I met the Comet….” Dean beamed, “Well he kinda found me.... and anyway…. We talked….had dinner….”

“Dude, you’re macking on the new superhero in town?! How is that even possible…. He looked like he was made of some kind of crazy space element.” Sam outright laughed.

“It’s a mix of nitrogen and frozen carbon dioxide and some other stuff. Okay maybe some of it is crazy space elements.” Dean held up a finger, “But he’s a regular human person when he doesn’t have his crap turned on. Just like you and me.”

“Dean, our crap is always turned on.” Sam said and there was open skepticism in his voice.

“That’s not the point Sam. Anyway, you’ll see for yourself. He’s coming over for dinner tomorrow.” Dean looked more than pleased with himself and gave Sam a thumbs up.

“No Dean you did not….”Sam was in the middle of working up a sour note to his voice and his face when both of their cell phones went off. Sam pulled his from a pocket inside his jacket and Dean rummaged his out of his jean pocket. They flipped them open together and read the text together. Then they both looked at each other at the same moment.

It was from Bobby and the text read “Ruby escaped. Someone helped her walk right through the goddam walls.”

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Castiel couldn’t go home yet. He was too happy for the first time in a very long time. He had met Dean, and spent the evening with the man sitting in a cramped booth at a tiny Thai restaurant talking for hours. It had been the best night of his life since moving to California and his head was still light and full of visions of brilliant green glittering eyes. A steady easy smile lifted from his lips all the way up into his eyes and he had no idea how he was going to get to sleep that night. He approached the door to his apartment building and as he drew out his keys he considered doing a few flying passes around the city’s skyline to cap off the night. He had just put his key into the outer door lock when he heard the scuffle of a foot behind him.

“Well, it looks like my little spies were right.” The voice was like a soft easy caress pricked with the hint of threats and danger.

Castiel withdrew his keys and slowly turned towards the voice. He leveled his gaze at the man behind him and straightened to his full height but said nothing.

Luc stood at the bottom of the steps that came up to the apartment front entry door. He looked up at Castiel with big puppy dog eyes and coupled it with a faux pout then said, “What, no hug for your big brother?”

“Hello Luc.” Castiel said with a stilted tone.

“Ah come on Cassy. Aren’t you glad to see me? It’s been so long….eight years?” Luc took one step up closer to Castiel. He eased a cold smile over his lips.

Castiel instinctively withdrew and bumped his back against the door behind him. “Eight years since you murdered those girls.” Castiel’s voice dipped lower, “Ten years since you killed Michael.”

“I didn’t come here so you could list a litany of my sins baby brother.” Luc dipped his head so his eyes took on a menacing quality, “I just came here to see how my sweet Castiel was doing since he fled home in Illinois. What happened there Cassy? You had a bright future, promising career at Argon, the fiance’, the house, the whole thing.” Luc pulled up close, close enough that he could reach out and touch Castiel if he wanted to, “What happened? Did you catch your love writhing in bed with another man? Did it…sting? Did it make you see red?” Luc’s eyes gleamed with a simmering viciousness. “You can tell me.”

Castiel placed a solid hand against Luc’s chest and pressed his brother back, making the man step down several paces. “I have nothing to say to you. Please leave.”

Luc’s mouth pulled into a quivering grin and he grabbed Castiel’s hand to hold it firm where it sat on his chest, “Or was it that you finally realized you like sucking cock and the horror of your true nature drove you nearly three thousand miles across the country before you were able to deal with it.”

Castiel gave no reaction. He merely pulled his hand free and turned his back on Luc. He pulled his keys out again, unlocked and opened the outer door to the building. He pulled it open and paused a moment. “Good bye Luc.” It was all he said before he went in and allowed the door to shut solidly behind him.

Luc gave off a small laugh and said softly, “You’re a monster like me dear brother. One day soon you’ll come with me." He moved to the sidewalk and took in a deep slow breath. He looked up to the stars and let his grin bask in their light, "I always get what I want Cassy. And I.... want.... you.”

(to be continued)


	10. The Glory Hell Hath Wrought

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Crescent City, a jewel on the Southern California coastline knows its share of tragedy. Two horrific explosions have rocked the city to its core and more evil awaits. Can the heroes who live there stem this tide of madness?  
> Raw Demon gives Dean a choice. Save Bobby or save Sam.

Dawn came but instead of chasing the shadows off it was blanketed by thick overcast fog that hung lingering all along the coast. The day was grey, hazy and it held iciness in the air. Thin misting water clung in the air and then to all available surfaces it could touch. Windows were fogged over and people wrapped up in jackets and scarves against the moisture. Dean had driven his Baby to work, the 1967 classic Chevy Impala he had owned forever but unlike its windows his mood wasn’t damp. Music cranked up loud, singing out with everything he had, his spirits were soaring. He was going to see Cas tonight. Nothing was going to spoil his day.

\---------------------

Sam was walking across campus to his first class of the day. The drizzle that hung in the air had managed to find its way under the back of his collar and he kept bringing his hand to the back of his neck to wipe it off. While Dean had been singing in the shower this morning, Sam and been fidgeting in the kitchen with the breakfast dishes. Even now he was finding it hard to concentrate and he nearly walked into several other students. He kept thinking about Ruby and how far she had strayed from the girl he had dated in high school. When they saw each other now, not as boyfriend and girlfriend but as antagonists, her eyes never showed one ounce of recognition as to who he was. How many times had he put her behind bars himself? How many times had he gone to see her, to talk to her, to try and help her? And how many times had she just sat there saying nothing and refusing to acknowledge he was in the room? Sam wiped the water off the back of his neck again and growled in frustration. She was free, and he knew in his gut he would have to dance that awful dance with her one more time.

\--------------------

Castiel stretched out in his bed. The covers were rumpled and entwined around his legs and his t-shirt had ridden up exposing his stomach to the morning air. He lay there a while, looking up at the ceiling and mulling over his dinner with Dean the night before. A small smile hinted at the corners of his mouth and he absently placed a hand over his chest. He had the day off again thanks to the temp agency being closed for the week. Usually that would bother him about the loss in wages but this morning it rolled away from his mind like waves ebbing on a beach. He sat up and slipped out of bed, then made his way into the small bathroom. He left the door open a crack and started up the shower. He pulled open a small cabinet beside the sink and withdrew a towel, then stood to drape it over the shower curtain rod. When he turned back around he froze. A man wearing a black mask was standing there, nose to nose with Castiel. Before Castiel could react in any way, the man swiftly reached up and plunged a syringe into Castiel’s neck. He withdrew the needle and a moment later caught Castiel as his eyes rolled back and he went limp into unconsciousness.

\--------------------

Christina closed her cell phone to end the call to her office at the paper. She was seated on one of the large mahogany leather couches in the penthouse condominium owned by the newspaper used for putting up special guests. The condo was in one of the beautiful high rise buildings that lined the beach front of the downtown midway and its view was much like the Mayor’s office in that it afforded a panorama of the city fanning away back inland. It was designed so that wall of the condo was all windows with a large balcony beyond it. Christina just sat and watched as Benny and Ruby talked out on the balcony, and gauging their body language with each other and she had come to the conclusion that they acted like siblings. She wasn’t worried about Benny with other women; she knew where his heart was. But he had hidden this other life from her and now she was going to use her arsenal of investigation skills to learn as much as she could about that life. She was also mentally digesting Benny revealing these abilities he had….being able to teleport short distances, being able to pass through solid matter and then there was the other thing that she was having difficulty processing. That he had told her he wasn’t really alive, nor was he dead, even though she had felt on many occasions his strong heart beat. She tapped the phone on her knee a moment and then stood up to walk out to the balcony with Benny and Ruby.

\--------------------

Mayor Crowley entered his office later than usual with his secretary and his press liaison at his elbow as he entered. They halted in front of his desk, talking to him about his itinerary for the day as he made his way over to a coat closet. He removed his outer coat and hung it within, and as he did he took note that the curtains were closed on all his windows. A small frown covered his mouth but he went to his desk and began acknowledging what his secretary was discussing. As the secretary was finishing Crowley asked him to please bring in a cup of tea and to open the widow curtains when he returned. The secretary nodded and left, leaving the Mayor to focus on the business with his press liaison. After yesterday morning’s press conference several news sources were trying to schedule interviews with Crowley but his heart wasn’t in it. His mind was ever focused on learning who was trying to rip his city out from under him. So much so that when the secretary returned with the tea and began to open the curtains, he didn’t register the gasps that came from both the secretary and the liaison at first. They had to address him by name in their astonished voices before he turned around to see that someone had painted words all across his window from the inside.

It read, “COME OUT AND SEE THE GLORY HELL HATH WROUGHT”

\--------------------

Commissioner Singer began to stir. There was a wind brushing faint rain drops against his cheek and the scent of rubber was in his nose. He opened his eyes groggily and tried to right his head. It felt thick and uncooperative. Finally as his eyes started to focus he could see the source of the rubber smell. He was bound up with black rubber tubing, wrapped from ankle to shoulder in it. On his chest was a large plastic number five, pinned there as if he was a runner in a race. He brought his head up and it was then he saw he was on top of the Crescent City Business Center Building, the tallest building in the city. He was fixed to the side wall of the helicopter pad support and he was facing out towards the ocean and the hotels and condos across the street. The rain came down a little harder briefly and Bobby squint his eyes to keep the water out. He turned to his left and saw a woman tied in a similar manner. She had a number four tacked to her. He turned his head in the other direction to find Fire Chief Victor Henriksen bound up as well with a number six on his chest. Neither the woman nor Victor was conscious. Bobby took a moment to try to wriggle within the rubber tubing but he quickly discovered that he was tied in such a way that struggling caused the binds to pull tighter. He let out an exasperated sound and that was when he saw them at his feet. Bundles stacked with wires routing over and under. The entire roof of the building was packed with explosives.

\--------------------

Dean’s phone let out one of the classic rock tunes that he had programmed to play for incoming calls. It played the tune he had chosen for Bobby’s number, ‘I Fought the Law’ by Bobby Fuller. He reached into his pocket, flicked the phone to answer and brought it to his ear. “Hey Bobby, what’s up?”

“Hello Hunter.” A cool male voice purred on the other end of the call. “Bobby is a little busy right now. He can’t get to his phone. How are you this morning Hunter? Sleep well?” The voice curled into a low chuckle.

Dean started walking with all haste to the garage office, heading towards the computer at the desk, “Funny you should ask that, I actually did.”

“How lovely. You’re gonna need it today _Hero_ … because we’re going to play a little game this morning.”The voice crooned.

“I love games.” Dean snarked. He was seated now and his fingers were flying over the computer keyboard while he cradled the phone against his shoulder. “I hope it’s not Twister though, no offense but we just met.”

“My aren’t _we_ a delight on the phone? If I had known I would have called much sooner.” The voice almost laughed.

Dean kept typing as he opened up the url Sam had set up for emergencies in case they were unable to call one another, or if one of them had lost their phone. “Yea well, that’s me. Always a delight. So mind if I ask what this game is?” He finished typing in the password and he hit the enter key. Seconds later the webpage began to come to life running algorithms and sending out information to Sam’s cell phone.

“It’s one of my favourites! It’s called let’s see how many people can die at once.” The voice lost its smooth edge slightly and in its place came a feeling of cool determination.

Dean dropped the banter, “This is Raw Demon isn’t it.”

There was a pause of silence and then the voice said, “You’re much smarter than the papers give you credit. By the way, your instincts about that liquor store last week were solid. It’s a front for one of my recruitment centers.”

“Recruitment….?” Dean stopped. He didn’t need to ask. He understood then. Raw Demon was forming an army. This wasn’t just about mayhem and causing destruction. This was about something much bigger. “Huh. Well. Good to know.” His voice came out a lot more calmly than he expected.

“Now that we’ve had the pleasantries…let’s talk business.” The voice brought back its silvery tone, “On one hand we have dear Bobby, who I gather is a close friend….or perhaps a lover?”

“He’s my adopted Dad you creep!” And there went Dean’s cool.

“Ah…” The voice chuckled softly, pleased with himself for finally finding the right button to push. “Yes. So on one hand we have dear Dad along with several thousand of his close personal friends downtown. On the other, we have all those darling students at the University on campus. Both with ample deposits of amoniumnitrate on hand.” The voice paused, “So which will it be Hunter? You have fifteen minutes to get there.”

And there the call went dead.

****

At the exact moment the call ended, a chain reaction of things occurred.

  
Mayor Crowley reached the roof of City Hall, his necktie fluttering in the breeze as he walked to the edge of the heli-pad there to view the roof next door. The Crescent City Business Center Building sat less than a football field’s distance away, and was only six feet taller than city hall. Crowley could easily see the people bound to the roof of the other building as well as the piles of explosives. He yelled out into the sky in abject rage as members of his staff flooded up onto the roof behind him.

From where she stood on the balcony of the penthouse, Christina caught sight of all the people gathering on the roof of city hall. In turn her gaze followed across to the Crescent City Business Center Building but since she was at a lower angle, couldn’t see what was going on there. She touched Benny’s arm to direct his attention over to the other roof and in a flicker of shadow he was gone. Seeing Benny vanish, Ruby simply rolled her eyes, grabbed Christina’s arm and pulled her back into the penthouse. They headed for the elevator exit.

Sam’s cell phone went off with the emergency sound he had programmed into his phone. As he dug the phone out of his jacket pocket he sheepishly got up from his seat in class and hastily exited out into the hall. Once there he flipped it open, but instead of bringing it to his ear, he reached in with his power and accessed the information that way. He moved quickly down the hall to look for a junction box in the building for the alarm system or any electrical system that threaded through the building. He paused once when he accessed the information on the website Dean had left for him, and then hurried his pace.

\-------------------- 

Bobby had been yelling himself nearly hoarse trying to rouse Victor but it was no use. Whatever they had drugged everyone with, it was effective. Bobby was about to go back to working at his bindings when the air in front of him seemed to quiver, deepen and bend. A shadow seemed to coalesce in the air, then it shifted and suddenly there was a man standing there. He was broad shouldered and well muscled wearing a pea coat, wool pants and a dock worker’s cap. He had a trim reddish blond beard shot with the signs of maturity and his irises were as white as sea foam.

“Who the ba-jeezus are you?!” Bobby growled.

“A friend… names’ Benny.” Benny looked around the roof quickly and assessed the explosives, then the hostages. He pulled out his cell and quickly dialed. When someone on the other end answered, he said “Darlin’…it’s bad up here. Call the cavalry. And be careful love.” Then he hung up the phone and slid it into his pocket. He turned away from Bobby and looked over the city…. _And began to whistle_. After a moment he came over to Bobby, bent down and he pulled a knife from inside his boot. Still whistling he began to cut away the rubber tubes that bound Bobby.

“You’re aware that’s really creepy right?” Bobby nailed Benny with a wide eye but all Benny did in return was wink back.

Benny was nearly finished cutting the rubber away when the first crows began to land on the roof. Majestic and sleek with shining black feathers the color of the water at midnight, they came in droves. Soon there were fourty or more perched around the edge of the roof. Benny looked at them once and the tune he was whistling shifted into a different one. The corvids held very still and regarded Benny a moment. Then they fluttered their wings and went to work as a group pecking away the rubber bonds holding the other hostages.

“Okay that’s kinda neat.” Bobby exclaimed, “Still creepy…. but neat.”

Benny pulled the last of Bobby’s bonds away and handed him the knife. Benny turned away and crouched down to examine the explosives, still whistling. Bobby hefted the knife and went to work at freeing Victor.

More crows arrived and Benny once again changed what he was whistling. Those that weren’t pecking at the hostage bindings were now gathering around Benny peering at him and listening to him whistle. One by one they flew off to slowly circle the area. Benny stopped whistling and focused again on the explosives.

“What was that about?” Bobby called as he eased Victor to the ground.

“These bundles…. Th’ detonators are here but th’ timing devices aren’t. So that means there is someone nearby with their finger on a trigger. I jus’ asked my friends all nice like if they’d have a look ‘round for it.” Benny smiled at Bobby and picked up one of the explosive bundles. He began carefully tugging specific wires out and away from the packs. “Look here….see these…the gray ones with th' yellow stripe along th' sides? Pull these out, remove ‘em. That’ll neutralize ‘em.”

Bobby gave Benny a hard stare as if to ask how he came to know that information.

And in return Benny gave Bobby an easy going smile, “Navy demolitions for eight years Commissioner. We can haggle with that later eh?” Bobby nodded in agreement and went to work pulling wires just as Benny had instructed him to.

\--------------------

Ruby had brought Christina down into the parking garage below the building explaining that they could get across to the other building faster if they used the service tunnels under the street. They were now running and zig-zagging their way through the parking level heading for those access tunnels. They were nearly there when they heard a car coming down through that level, and on instinct Ruby grabbed Christina’s arm and brought her down to crouch between two cars.

A white Cadillac Escalade pulled into a parking spot near a corner and turned off its engine. The driver’s side door opened and a man dressed entirely in black got out. He was tall with a shock of strawberry blond hair on his head and keen looking eyes. When Ruby saw him, her hand tightened around Christina’s arm and she looked at her with knowing eyes.

The man closed the driver’s side door, walked around and opened the back of the car up. He pulled a limp unconscious man out and slung an arm under him to hold him up. The man he was carrying was barefoot and in his pajamas, and he had a mess of dark hair on his head. The first man shut and locked the vehicle, then hoisted the unconscious man over his shoulder in a fireman’s carry and began to walk towards the elevators.

“Change of plans…”Ruby stood and began moving cautiously to follow the two men.

Christina stood and slunk up behind Ruby with a nod but whispered to no one in particular,“If I don’t get a Pulitzer after all this is over…..”

\--------------------

Dean hadn’t bothered to change his clothes or get his car. He just ran as fast as he legs would take him in the direction of the university campus simply because it was physically closer. He poured on the speed, leaping over anything that blocked his path, not concealing his preternatural Hunter dexterity or his celerity. He covered eight city blocks in less than two minutes and raced onto campus with all his Hunter perceptions full on. He headed for the building he knew Sam’s first class was held in and launched himself up the front steps. He reached for the door and….

There was an odd reverse pop sound behind Dean, as if someone had sucked in their lips tight and brought in the air with it. Then there was half a moment where there was nothing but silence. After that an impossibly loud retort shook the ground and Dean found himself thrown against the door by the pressure wave that followed. Both his body and the door were summarily shoved into the building as the entire world seemed to shake. Debris and ash flooded over Dean less than a second later, drowning him in an ocean of grey black smoke.

A few minutes later Dean coughed and brought himself up on one elbow. His Hunter perceptions were blown and he had a loud ringing in his ears. He half rolled into a sitting position and felt a sharp pain in his shoulder. It was dislocated. He coughed again and tried to peer through the heavy smoke floating around him but he was nearly blind. He fished out his cell phone and flicked it on, hitting Sam’s number. When he didn’t pick up, Dean thumbed through his other contacts and his eyes landed on Castiel’s number. He dialed it and listened as it went to voice mail.

“Cas? Where are you man? We need you….”

_(to be continued)_

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_Some of the original comments on this chapter when it was originally posted:_

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	11. Headshot

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dire events continue to unfold on the rooftops of Crescent City's downtown area.

The lobby of the West Ocean condominiums was spacious and filled with green potted plants. As you entered through the double glass doors, there was a small desk with concierge services and the security center to the right. To the left was a luxurious seating area with low slung modern furnishings. Directly ahead were the elevators.

One of those elevator’s doors crept open and Ruby slid out to skid to a stop in front of the elevator next to it. She looked up above those doors to discover there was no indicator showing what floor it had stopped on. She let out a frustrated sound as Christina walked past her, snagging Ruby’s arm as she went. Christina sauntered casually over to the security desk and smiled warmly at the guard stationed there.

“Hi Steve.” She leaned a little on the desk counter and flashed her dark brown eyes at the guard.

“Oh hey Ms Ronald. Can I help you?” Steve looked to be in his twenties but he had an adorably boyish smile and it filled his face now.

“Listen, I’m chasing a lead for the paper….can you tell me what floor elevator two stopped on?” Christina tilted her head and smiled wider.

“Sure, yea of course. Hold on.” Steve looked down to his security monitors and then looked back up, “Uh, they went to the maintenance level below the roof but….I see that someone went from there to the roof. One of the doors is reading that it isn’t fully closed.”

“Steve, would you dial 911 and let them know we have a situation on the roof of the Crescent City Business Center Building…tell them it’s bad…oh and send some cops up to the roof here as well too.” She winked at him. “Thanks.” She turned and quickly walked towards the elevators, tugging Ruby along by her sleeve. She hit the button for the elevator they had just exited and its doors came right open. She and Ruby stepped in and Christina hit the button for the floor below the roof which was a maintenance area.

After the doors closed Ruby looked at Christina and smiled. “You totally worked that. Like a Champ.”

Christina smiled back and rocked on her heels. “Thanks.” Then her face sobered, “So the Not Unconscious Guy from the Escalade?”

“His name is Luc Novak. Also known to Interpol, the FBI and the CIA….and MI5 and MI6…as well as a few other agencies as ‘Raw Demon’. He’s a terrorist.” Ruby brought her eyes forward and held them on the elevator doors. “Four years ago he set off a bomb in a movie theater. I was there. He took hostages to cover his escape, I was one of them. After he let me go I was approached by….one of those agencies to see if I would go under cover and infiltrate his group. I guess they figured revenge was a good motivator.” She smirked. “They trained me, I managed to find him and convince him I was suffering from Stockholm syndrome. I allowed him to think he was training me and that I was just a fast learner. I’ve been gathering evidence against him since working undercover in his operation.”

“And the kidnapping?” Christina frowned.

“Luc’s right hand, Lilith had her panties in a bunch because Luc and I were getting closer. So she sent me off to grab the Tran kid to get me out of the way for a while. And…” Ruby looked down at the toe of her boot, “I had other reasons.”

“Electro.” Christina said softly. “Benny said he was listed on your cell phone.”

Ruby simply nodded and then took in a deep breath. “That’s another story for another time though, okay Champ?” The elevator doors had opened to the maintenance floor and Ruby stepped out. Christina simply nodded and they headed for the stairs to the roof.

_\-----------------------------------------_

Castiel’s eyes opened slowly. He was lying on his side on grooved cement tiles and above him the sky shifted grey with clouds. His head was at an odd angle, as if he had just crumpled to the ground. He stayed there a moment, drawing up his memory. He had been in his bathroom getting ready to take a shower when… Castiel sucked in a panicked breath and jerked his head up. He looked around quickly, but it made his head swim and vision wobble. He was on the roof of some building. He squinted his eyes and tried to focus beyond his immediate area. Finally he started to make out several people dressed in black all standing along the wall that rimmed the edge of the building. Castiel tried once more to pull himself up, but his head spun in dizzy circles and he had to remain down. He could hear the people talking and after a time recognized his brother Luc’s voice. That sent a cold knot twisting in his gut. He closed his eyes again and calmed his breathing. If he could just sit up he could focus and…

A soft sound near him caught his ear and he opened his eyes. He saw movement in his peripheral vision and he stilled himself. Two figures were creeping in between the massive air condition units, ducking and hiding trying not to be seen. For a moment relief washed over him. Dean and his brother must have come for him. But then he realized there was no way for Dean to know he was here and his hope sifted away from him. “And why would they come for me anyway?” Castiel thought to himself and closed his eyes again. “What do I mean to them?” Castiel tried to focus again, tried to clear his head so he could reach down inside himself and click on that inner switch. Bring forth the ice and the fire, release the Comet within but he couldn’t quite reach it. It was like an itch deep inside him that he couldn’t quite scratch.

Castiel unexpectedly felt hands on his ankles. His eyes flew open certain he would see Luc’s face leering at him, but instead it was two women he did not know. One had thick dark hair and dangerously flashing dark eyes, and the other was blonde. Her eyes were wary but held a warm depth to them that spoke of some inner confidence. They had grasped him by the ankles and were pulling him away, drawing him behind one of the massive A/C units. Once they were hidden the brunette vanished from Castiel’s line of sight. The blonde came and cradled his cheek a moment and inspected his eyes. She frowned and then leaned in close to whisper to him.

“I’m really hoping you aren’t one of the bad guys here. My friend wants me to knock you out, to remove any extra threat….”When the blond woman said ‘friend’ is came out more as if it was an implied temporary ally. “But I’m thinking that if they had you this drugged up, you aren’t here because you want to be.” She continued, “I’m Christina Ronald from the Tribune. The cops are on their way. Just hang tight and this will be over soon….” And then she too was gone to where Castiel couldn’t see her anymore.

Castiel closed his eyes. “The bad guys?” he thought to himself. “The cops?” What was happening now that she would use those words? He knew now Luc had been the one to abduct him. That was how it had started with Michael. Luc’s obsessive need to be first in everyone’s hearts, and when they weren’t, how Luc would twistedly force the issue. But now Castiel started to worry that this was more than just old business between he and his brother flaring up. Once again he tried to lift his head and this time the dizziness was not as severe and he found he had regained some control over his motor functions. He was about to reach down deep inside himself when a crow landed beside him and looked at him with unfathomable curiosity. As abruptly as it had appeared, it was just as swiftly gone, flapping its wings to take flight as if it had been startled. And then Castiel heard why.

The sound of a rifle being fired off rang through the air again.

_\-----------------------------------------_

Bobby didn’t hear the shot. He was too busy pulling wires off the bundles of explosives stacked all over the roof of the Crescent City Business Center Building. And wondering where his rescue choppers were. Usually they would have been circling the area by now….unless….

Bobby stood up and quickly scanned the city. It didn’t take long to see the voluminous plumes of smoke vomiting into the sky from over near the University campus or the city’s police and rescue helicopters swarming that area. He was about to let a slew of expletives spill from his lips when he noticed that there were people on the roof of City Hall and that they were all ducked down and covering their heads.

“What the….?” Bobby turned and that’s when he saw the Mayor laying face down and unmoving. He whirled around to yell to Benny when he felt something sting into his shoulder. And then he was falling down, that sting growing hot and spreading down across his arm and chest. He looked down to see a bullet wound there, the blood blossoming slowly through his clothes. His back hit the roof and he blinked. “Balls!”

_\-----------------------------------------_

Lilith pouted and readjusted her grip on the Ruger semiautomatic rifle in her hands. She had been aiming for the Police Commissioner’s throat when he had turned and she had clipped his shoulder instead. He was down now and her shot was blocked by the lip of the other building.

Luc chuckled darkly beside her, “Easy there love. Why don’t you say hello to our friend Benny now?”

The pout on Lilith’s face evaporated into a vicious smile and she lined up her sights on Benny’s broad back. She carefully pulled off three successive shots and saw them land on target hitting Benny in the spine. She waited for him to fall and she gripped her rifle tighter with anticipation.

Nothing happened. Benny remained standing, still at his task working over the explosive bundles.

She cocked a look at Luc who now had a pout of his own clouding his mouth. “It appears dear Benny left a few things off his resume’….” He nodded at her, “Headshot.”

She lined up her sights on the back of Benny’s head, holding steady and…..

Suddenly there were crows everywhere. Their wings beat and pummeled the air around Luc and Lilith, their beaks nipped and pecked at heads and hands. Their feet scraped and tore as they birds dived and swooped to attack. Their loud cries rankled through the air.

Lilith screamed and dropped the rifle, crouching and ducking down against the walled edge of the roof. Luc snarled and pulled into a fighting stance. He dropped his arms to his sides, closed his eyes and just as suddenly as the crows had appeared they were all dropping from the air. The birds hit the surface of the roof twitching, their calls cut off as they died. Luc had reached out and killed them all with a thought.

Luc reeled forward and slung an arm across his midsection, staggering a moment before he regained his footing. When he brought his head up a thin trail of blood was trickling from his nose. Lilith blinked in shock as she slowly sat up watching Luc, concern in her eyes. He waved her off and turned to brace himself along the edged wall as his breathing evened out.

“Enough of this. Blow the roof.” Luc wiped the blood away from under his nose with the back of his hand.

“I think….” Came a female voice from just behind them on the roof, “You’ll be needing this.”

Luc and Lilith both brought their attention around to Ruby who was not only hefting Lilith’s rifle but also the remote device they would need to detonate the explosives. “Hi. Remember me? I’m awesome.” Ruby said and glared at them both. She lifted the detonation device over her head and flung it as hard as she could over the edge of the building. It soared out and then curved into a plummeting fall. Then she leveled the rifle at Luc.

“Ah, another hero.” Luc said the last word with contempt. “How nice. But who will save YOU now?” His hand shot out in Ruby’s direction and a stab of pain seared through her head. He clenched his fingers and twisted his hand. Ruby dropped the rifle and dropped to her knees, a strangled cry of agony clipped from her throat. Another thin rivulet of blood came from Luc’s nose but he stood firm. He stalked over to Ruby and bent down over her. In an eerily calm voice he said, “Tell them this was just a taste of things to come. Tell them I’m just getting started. Tell them…..”Luc pulled a sweet benevolent smile out, _“My apocalypse is coming.”_

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Christina was having a difficult time keeping the half conscious man held up in the elevator. She was exhausted from dragging him off the roof and down the stairs, and right now her heart was racing in her chest and it wouldn’t seem to quit. The second she had heard the rifle go off, she had gone back for the semiconscious man and decided it was time for them to go. Whatever was happening on the roof now, it was in the police’s hands. She’d get the story later.

She wanted desperately to pull out her cell phone and call Benny, to see if he was okay. To make sure what he had told her last night, that he couldn’t die, was true. But she couldn’t reach it and keep the dark haired man from slumping to the floor.

“Hey,” She gently held the man’s head up a little, “You have a name?”

“Cast….Castiel….” He murmured and made an attempt to hold his own head up with moderate success.

“Good, okay. Nice to meet you Castiel. Gonna get you to the lobby and then into an ambulance if possible.” Christina mustered a hopeful smile.

“I was….abducted….by….”Castiel sagged slighty, “My brother.”

“Luc Novak?!…..Raw Demon is your brother?!”Christina couldn’t hide her astonishment, and she caught the alarmed look on Castiel’s face when he heard the two names placed together.

Before their conversation could continue further, Christina heard the lobby floor indicator in the elevator ‘ding’, and the doors opened to a row of police swat team members with their firearms trained on the elevator. “Whoa whoa WHOA!! Unarmed!!” She called out, her dark eyes going wide. They dropped their weapons and one of them moved forward to help Christina bring Castiel out of the elevator.

Soon Castiel was seated in one of the low slung lobby chairs and Christina was pacing behind him by the window as more police swarmed into the building. The loud crack of something hitting the walkway just beyond the window there made her jump, and when she leaned around the open lobby doors she saw it was the smashed remains of some electronic device. When she looked back at Castiel….

He was gone.

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_ When the swat teams decended on the roofs of all buildings involved, they found the Mayor and the Police Commissioner shot. They found thousands of pounds of explosives. They found numerous citizens terrified and cowering. They found an escaped prisoner, rifle in hand, lying wounded and helpless.

To Christina's horror, they did not find Raw Demon or his accomplice.

To her relief they had not found Benny at all.

_(to be continued)_

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_Some of the original comments on this chapter when it was originally posted:_

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	12. Smoke and Memory

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The University is devastated. Dean is wounded. Castiel, lost. Who rescues a hero when they need to be saved?

**Smoke.**

Roiling and coiling in darker blacker brumes with each moment. A nebula of ash and other burned scud smothered and pressed all around Dean. He was coughing more than breathing now, and his vision was failing him as his eyes flooded with irritated stinging tears. He tried to stand and found one of the bones that should have remained inside his leg had opted to try to escape through his skin instead. With his shoulder a mess as well, he was reduced to dragging himself across the floor with his other arm. He went the length of his body twice and realized that he had no idea what direction to go in. He couldn’t hear anything beyond the high shrill static of his blown ear drums and he couldn’t see anything because of the smoke. He wheezed and as his lungs began to burn from within. He tried one last time to pull open his Hunter perceptions to smell his way out and wound up with a blistering headache for his trouble. Finally, bent over and broken, he tucked his head, pulled his body close in on itself and gave out one last breath.

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Castiel’s foot was bloodied. And it stung. He had sliced his bare skin on some broken glass, and now he hobbled along bracing himself on the cement wall to his left as he went. Behind him there was only the fading illumination from a lone service junction light. In front of him was naught but darkness. He was slowly making his way through one of the service tunnels linking the lower levels of downtown under the streets. He had slipped away from the lobby and found his way down into the parking garage in time to see Luc and Lilith drive off in the white Escalade Luc had used to bring Castiel along in. To avoid them he had ducked into a maintenance tunnel and kept going. His head was still fuzzing and swimming from the drug Luc had shot into his body. It was making it impossible for Castiel to reach inside himself and flick on his abilities, his power. He couldn’t focus on anything for more than a few seconds at a time, which is why he had missed the broken bottle and cut his foot. He dragged his fingers along the rough cement now, trying to anchor himself to the sensation. The feel of the wall. The faint light now coming slowly into view as the one behind him dimmed. He wondered for a moment what it was like for Dean when his perceptions were open and heightened as he used them. Was it frightening? Was it wonderful? Castiel imagined that the first time it had happened it could have been terrifying. Overwhelming.

He recalled the first time his power had burst forth from within him, swelling and crashing over him like an immense wave of light and frozen heat. He remembered screaming and his body flailing, arms wheeling comically in the air. He remembered the panic as he fell over and then wasn’t falling down anymore but falling up. Flying off the surface of the ground with no control he had started grasping at anything he could, grabbing for something to save him from floating away into the sky and into space. He remembered catching hold of his fiancée Amelia’s hand a she reached for him, and then her screams of pain as her skin cracked and froze where his glowing white fingers touched her.

Castiel stopped.

He brought his right hand up to rub gently against his forehead. No those memories weren’t needed right now. That wasn’t going to clear his head. He slumped against the wall and wished he had his cell phone. Or regular pants on. Or shoes on.

As if to emphasize that fact, something crawled over the skin of his other foot.

Instinctively Castiel flinched and a bright pop of light sizzled where the roach had been. The bug was vaporized in a tiny flash of hazy ice. Castiel leaned over slightly to look down. The usual frosty residue left over from contact with his power lingered on his skin. Castiel raised an eyebrow, “Fascinating.”

Castiel turned around and faced in the direction he had just come from. He lowered his head slightly, looking back down the tunnel with a piercing gaze. He took a steady breath and then broke into a hard run, pounding his cut foot mercilessly into the tunnel floor as he ran. One, two, on the third slam of his foot another hot flash of light and the hiss of ice exploded from the source of the pain. His power reeled up, snaking violently around his leg and climbed higher as the pain sliced deeper. He kept running. Kept going. The light and the cold fire whirling up and through him, he flooded the tunnel with his power as it engulfed him whole.

Moments later the Comet burst out from a parking garage entryway downtown and shot like a bright rocket into the sky.

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Sam’s arms were full again with another unconscious body. This time it was an older lady, someone he thought he recognized as one of his professor’s departmental secretaries. Her cream sweater was filthy with ash and soot, her tailored slacks were torn from the knees down and she was missing a shoe. Sam had done that as he had freed her from under the debris she had been caught by. It was odd how that had bothered him briefly as he pulled her out. That he felt bad for ruining her clothing. Dean would certainly make fun of him for that later. As before with others he had pulled from the blasted buildings, he handed off her limp form to waiting rescue teams when he encountered them. Then he turned back, his long legs loping into a run, back into the blast zone to search for more survivors.

The bomb had been seated in the center of the quad in a lone backpack left along a sidewalk. Sam hadn’t figured this out until it was too late, until he was all the way across the other side of campus chasing down the signal source for the detonation device. It had ripped the quad grounds, tossing earth, grass, cement and trees into a fifty foot column of utter devastation straight into the air. The blast had shredded the facing buildings into crumbling rock and splintered wood. And the people making their way in between classes in the drizzling rain had been wiped clean from the face of the Earth.

Sam picked his way through another building now, grimacing when he would tug on a hand only to have it pull free dangling gore behind it. He turned over a crushed door to find a person with a head made of pulp. He squeezed into an opening to find a room oozing with bodies pressed like macabre dried flowers, whole walls flattening them. He fought the urge to vomit when the smell suddenly became more rank as he passed through one corner. He pushed past another skewed doorway and into a hall filled with smoke that had nowhere to go.

For a split moment Sam was back inside the burning movie theater in his mind, chaos and screaming echoing in his head and Ruby’s voice with them. He closed his eyes and shoved those thoughts away. “Not now.” Sam thought, “Not here. No time!”

Sam fumbled out his goggles and got them over his eyes. It was impossible to see anything but at least this would keep the smoke out. He clamped down hard on the agitation boiling in his gut and began to feel along the wall, calling out loudly for anyone that was still in the building. He stumbled against a crumbled support beam. He stepped over it. He ran his knee against a ruined wall. He stepped over it. He caught his foot against part of one of the broken main entry doors. He stepped over it. He felt his foot nudge against something solid but soft. He didn’t step over it.

Sam bent down and his fingers caught hold of another body. It was curled up on itself, head tucked down. He worked his hands under the torso and grappled his arms around the person. He hauled them up and laid two fingers against their neck to check for their pulse. He found it weak but there. He shifted their body so he could hoist them into a fireman’s carry and that was when he saw their face.

“DEAN!” Sam called out and Dean did nothing. Sam called out his brother’s name again, and then again. Nothing. Then he began to call for any rescue teams nearby. He called over and over and then as his panic began to shove red shards of light behind his eyes, Sam began to empty his lungs screaming for help. His own body shaking, he pulled and carried Dean back the way he had come, bellowing the whole way. By the time Sam had brought Dean out of the building, Sam’s voice was raw and cracked. By the time rescue team hands were tugging Dean’s body from Sam’s arms, Sam’s voice was dry shallow rasp.

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Christina paced. She had ditched her shoes nearby and her bare feet had nearly worn the grass into thinness in front of the condominium building. She too was losing her voice, but it was because she was relaying information about the attack and the attackers to Chuck over her cell phone so they could get everything into the evening edition of the paper.

“No, I don’t think it was just the two of them…I think they probably have a lot more people in their organiz….yes. Yes. No I only saw the two of them Chuck. But how else could they pull something like this off?” She took in a shaky breath. Her adrenaline was starting to fade out and she couldn’t stop wondering what had become of Benny. “Yea, yea, yea. The police have the Escalade’s description and I caught the plates so they have them too. I also got a shot of the smashed detonation device….yea. I’ll send it to Ash as soon as I get off the phone here with you.” She let out an exasperated sigh, “No. I didn’t get one of them. It’s too blurry. I was trying to get a shot of them when I was on the roof but then…..yes! Crows. You know, CROWS? Big black birds that are everywhere here in California?! No, I think we should leave that out of the story. The last thing we need is more panic in this town.”

Christina turned again and wandered in between two trees where she couldn’t see the street and anyone on the street couldn’t see her. She stopped short as her heart caught in her throat, her eyes on something in front of her suddenly. “Chuck? CHUCK!” She gasped in a breath, “Imma hafta call you back.” She hung up on him.

“Hello Darlin’.”

Benny was standing there before her now, his blue eyes gentle and smiling. His coat was slung over his shoulder casually, as if he had just wandered home from work. He slowly pulled his hat off his head and placed it over his heart, but not before Christina’s eyes landed on the bullet holes tufted out on his shirt. He gave her a soft shrug and capped it off with a roguish half smile that tugged a dimple to life on his cheek.

Christina held still. “They shot you.”

He let out a long sigh; let his coat roll off his shoulder and onto the ground. They he pulled the hat away and let it fall too. “Yea. Th’ rotten bastards did.” Several places around his heart showed where the bullets had passed through him. Tiny flecks of blood darkened the edges of the holes, but the skin under was whole, healthy and untouched. Benny wiggled one finger into one of the holes playfully.

Christina frown at him, “Don’t joke.”

“I’m not Darlin’. It’s jus’….I told ya. I can’t die because…. I already did that.” He gave a heavy shrug as if that was the only way he could explain it. He took several slow steady steps toward her, and when she was in reach he gathered her close, enveloping her into an embrace. Hesitantly she brought her arms up to reciprocate, and then suddenly she was squeezing him tight and burying her face into his chest. He just held her, rocking ever so slightly and purring softly against her ear. “Someday, when this is all ovah, I will tell you everything love. No more secrets. No more.”

Christina nodded against his shoulder, but her voice was steady “You got that right Mister. Or so help me, I will find a way to put you into the ground.”

All Benny could do was chuckle because he knew she would.

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Miles away along one of the busiest freeways in Southern California, a while Cadillac Escalade suddenly burst into an explosive array of flames as it sat parked on the shoulder. A block from there, a man with strawberry blonde hair and a woman dressed in black clothing were picked up by a white Mercedes S Class sedan. It pulled up alongside them and they got into the backseats. The car then slipped around the corner and away.

Inside, the man with strawberry blond hair relaxed back into the seat and smiled a pleased smile at the blonde woman beside him. “I think that went reasonably well don’t you my dear?”

The blonde woman tried to feign distain as she looked at the man, but then a small smile began to creep up at the corners of her mouth. “Well, we did take out the Mayor and the Police Commissioner. So there is at least that Luc.”

The driver of the car caught both of their eyes in the rear view mirror and he cleared his throat, “Sir, alpha team was successful. They deployed their mission at the university and reported a high casualty rate.”

“Thank you number Twelve.” Luc turned back to the woman, “See Lilith? Humming along, singing a song.” He lifted his fingers into the air and made them dance around playfully.

“But Castiel….”Lilith said this as a grave whisper and then held her breath.

“Yes, well. I tried to save him. Just like I tried to save Michael. It’s regrettable but…”Luc shrugged, “What can I do? Delay Phase Two?” He made a disgusted face. “I will build a grand memorial to my little brother’s sad memory…..” Luc made a sweeping elegant gesture with his hands, “I will build it with the ashes of this city!”

And just like that, Luc smiled beatifically.

_(to be continued)_


	13. See You Soon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Castiel, Dean and Sam all find some measure of healing.

Crescent City’s Willmore Medical Center sat on a four block square and was comprised of multiple buildings with multiple levels. The buildings were white with tinted smoky windows and tall green trellises that grew up in emerald strips along the sides. It had been designed in the late 1960s with growth in mind, and it now not only held a massive surgical ward, but a full children’s hospital and several medical research clinics as well. The center of the block was filled by a green grassy knoll with graceful drooping willow trees and tidy blocks of bright flower boxes. The emergency room entry was also wide and rimmed at its edges with trees and flowers. Usually it was the perfect picture of order and stability even during stressful emergencies.

Until the day the explosion decimated the university campus. That day it had been the center point of overwhelming trauma and heartbreak as it was the closest emergency ward and hospital to the campus. Those wounded that could walk hobbled themselves to Willmore’s welcoming doors. Ambulances by the dozens screamed up her drive to unload stretcher after stretcher of victims of the blast. And twelve hours ago, Sam had tumbled out of the back of one of them as they had unloaded his brother to rush him inside.

Now Sam sat slumped in a chair next to Dean’s hospital bed trying to fight off sleep. Dean suffered from severe smoke inhalation, a fractured fibula, a dislocated shoulder and numerous other scrapes, bruises and lacerations. Dean had gone into surgery for his leg and now it was bound up in a cast and suspended slightly to keep it stationary. He also had an endotracheal tube down his throat and humidified oxygen being sent into him to treat his lungs. At the moment Dean was sleeping peacefully. Sam thought his brother looked half dead in spite of the reassurances he had received from the medical teams, doctors and nursing staff.

Sam stood and stretched, then paced about for a moment to get the blood going in his limbs. He was briefly considering paging the nurse and asking where he could find some coffee when he saw Bobby at the door knocking lightly asking to come in.

“Oh god...Bobby! What happened to you?!” Sam came to stand just in front of Bobby, his hands coming up in shock.

Bobby’s arm was in a sling and a large bandage could be seen peeking out from under the older man’s shirt. “Some asshat shot me.” Bobby gently pushed past Sam and went to stand beside Dean’s bed. He gestured awkwardly with his other hand at his wound, “Shoulder. Went clean through. Nothing to be concerned with. I got here as soon as I could. How’s Dean?”

Sam came to stand on the other side of Dean’s bed and gave a weak shrug as he relayed to Bobby everything the medical staff had told him. Bobby kept his eyes on Dean, while nodding as he listened to Sam. When Sam was done, Bobby skewered Sam with a careful look. “You sound worried Sam.”

“I’ve just never…..”Sam took in a shaky breath, “…never seen Dean hurt this bad before.”

Bobby was quiet a moment. He gave Sam a long knowing look, then glanced at Dean. Then Bobby gestured for Sam to sit down. After Sam did, Bobby looked back at Sam, “You don’t remember the first time Dean used his abilities do you?”

“I remember that some guy tried to grab me from the park when I was eight. I remember Dean stopped him.”Sam looked at Bobby with tired eyes.

Bobby nodded. “Yea. That pedophile tried to shove you into the back of his van. Did you know that Dean heard you struggling with him three blocks away? He felt the air shift when the guy knocked you unconscious.”Bobby paused and looked at Dean, “He ran…was there in less than a minute. Ripped open the side of the van and yanked you out. Sure. But do you remember the rest?”

Sam shook his head, his eyes riveted to Bobby.

“The guy came at Dean with a knife. Every intention of putting Dean into the back of that van too. Dean had no training then, didn’t know how to fight. Didn’t know how to disarm. It was all instinct.” A wry smile crept over Bobby’s face. “The guy stabbed Dean. Right in the side.”

Sam’s eyes went wide.

“Dean….he held the guy’s hand so it kept the knife inside. Kept it held there and wouldn’t let it pull out.”Bobby made a small gesture at Dean lying in the bed, “Then hit that son of a bitch so hard Dean broke the guy’s jaw. When the police came, the knife was still sticking out of your brother. They pulled it out at the hospital.” Bobby chuckled. “Know how long it took that deep wound to heal?”

Sam shook his head.

“Week an’ a half. If that.” Bobby smirked, “So don’t worry about Dean. He heals fast….real fast. I’d say it’s part of his gift. He’ll be screaming to get that cast off in no time. Just watch.” Bobby walked around to where Sam was sitting and offered his hand. Sam took it and Bobby pulled him up to stand. “Come on home with me boy. You can stay in your old room. Let’s get some sleep. We’ll come back in the morning and I’ll bet dollars to donuts Dean’ll be cussin’ and frettin’ a blue streak to get outta that bed when we walk in.” Bobby patted Sam on his back gently as they walked to the door and out into the hall.

“So what happened to you? Where were you when you got shot?” Sam asked.

“Top of the business center building, you know the one next door to City Hall. Some dickweeds abducted me outta my bed, left me on the roof with Victor and a bunch of other folks with the idea that we’d get blown to kingdom come by some explosives.” Bobby walked with Sam down the hallway in the hospital. “Some guy came and rescued us. Halfway though, we started getting shot at. Took me down. Took down the Mayor as well….he’s alive…and he’ll be up hollerin’ soon enough. But….” Bobby shook his head, “This thing….the bridge….the school, downtown, the university….all of it. I feel like I’m only seeing pieces of the puzzle, not the whole thing yet…”

“Yet you feel like you could get the whole picture if you could just step back a little?” Sam looked at Bobby.

“Yea. Exactly.” Bobby nodded and then stopped walking. They were at a cross way between hallways. Down to the left two men in military police uniforms were posted outside one of the doors to one of the room there. “I need to ask a favor of you Sam. Now if you don’t feel up to it, I’ll understand but…” Bobby looked down the hallway to the guarded room, “I really need to see if you can get her to tell you anything….anything at all.”

“Her?” Sam’s brows knit up in the middle of his forehead.

Bobby brought Sam down the hall, and when they approached the military guards, they nodded to Bobby and stepped aside. Bobby gestured to the small rectangular window in the door and Sam peered in. Ruby was in a hospital bed with a roll away tables across her lap and she was filling out forms and paperwork with a pen. Dark circles sat around her eyes and her skin was very pale.

“She won’t talk to me Bobby. I’ve tried.” Sam said softly and dropped his eyes.

“Try one more time. Please Sam.” Bobby gave a grimaced smile at the guards, “As soon as she’s stable they are removing her to a government facility out of state.” Sam reacted by looking confused, and Bobby just raised his brows and opened the door. Sam took in a deep breath and walked into the room.

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When Castiel had finally flown home and slipped into his apartment though his window, he was shaking and exhausted. He had barely made it to his bed before he had collapsed and passed out. He had slept for ten hours straight before stirring again, coming into consciousness with a blistering headache. After a shower, copious amounts of ibuprofen and finally some food, Castiel turned on the evening news to watch the recap of the day’s events. He started watching while standing, but within a few minutes he felt he knees give way from under him and he sat hard onto the floor.

“…..Mayor Crowley shot in the leg and the chest…..”

“…..three more shooting victims dead on the roof of the Crescent City Business Center Building…..500 pounds of explosives on the roof with them……”

“….bomb explosions on the university campus……182 wounded………323 dead……”

Castiel reached up and clicked off the television. His mouth was dry and his eyes stung. Luc had done this. His brother. Raw Demon. For one brief moment Castiel began to tremble and he was almost overwhelmed by disgust, sadness and regret. Then the anger started to well up and overtake those other emotions and Castiel got to his feet. He began to hunt for where he had placed his cell phone and finally located it by his bed on his dresser. He flipped it open to dial the police, so he could come forward and tell them about Luc, about his brother’s past and see if he could help track Luc down. He stopped and his breath caught in his throat when he saw the missed call from Dean. Hurriedly he cued the voice mail up and listened to Dean’s message. The sound was cracked and fuzzed, as if there was some interference. Then Castiel realized it was the sounds around Dean not the phone.

Dean’s voice came through shaken and hollow, “Cas? Where are you man? We need you….”

Castiel closed the phone and looked at the time stamp. He saw his hand was trembling slightly and the anger that had been buoying him had begun to coil cold into his gut. He opened his phone again, and hit Dean’s number to connect…and waited.

“”Ello!” A rough older man’s voice answered Dean’s phone. “Bobby speakin’”

Castiel hesitated and then said, “Yes, hello. I um, I was looking to speak to Dean if he’s available?”

The voice on the other end of the call softened, “Sorry. Dean was at the university today, he got caught in the explosion….”

Castiel felt the knot inside him squeeze as the rest of his body went numb.

“….he’s okay though. He’s at Willmore Med Center if you’d like to visit him tomorrow….”Bobby finished.

Castiel felt the numbness in his body wind out and the feeling came trickling back, “Yes. Yes I would thank you. Would you tell him that Castie….that Cas called?”

“Sure Cas. No problem.” Bobby’s voice warmed.

“Also, you are Police Commissioner Singer are you not?” Castiel voice grew determined.

“I am. What can I do for you son?” the curiosity in Bobby’s reply was thick.

“I believe I may have information that will be helpful to your investigations. My brother is Luc Novak. I believe he’s on several wanted lists by law enforcement?” Castiel said. “I saw him in town today. Downtown in fact. At the West Ocean condominiums. I’ll be more than happy to come down to the station and make a statement.”

Bobby made pleased noises on the other end of the line and instructed Castiel where to go tomorrow and whom he should speak to for his statement. They ended the call with the usual pleasantries and Castiel set his phone down. He stood for a moment to think and then he walked into his kitchen. He stripped down naked leaving his clothing in rumpled piles on the floor and walked to his kitchen window. Then he leaned out and looked up into the night sky.

He closed his eyes and flicked on that little place deep inside him that ignited his powers. The flash came quick, bursting from him and enveloping him in seconds, making a soft popping sound as it did. He floated lightly out of his window and then up through the alley way. He coasted up past the rooftops and allowed himself to float higher. When he was clear of all buildings, tension wires, and trees he shot forward at incredible speed into the direction of the hospital.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sam let the door fall shut behind him. He shuffled his feet once and then said gently, “Hey.”

Ruby paused what she was writing and looked up. The hard concentration on her face melted away for a brief moment and something warm danced into her eyes. As swiftly as it was there however, it was gone. She looked back down to her papers and continued to write.

Sam walked quietly to the side of her hospital bed and stood there a moment just watching the top of her head. Then he glanced down to the papers before her and he blinked in astonishment. “Central Intelligence Agency?!”

Ruby stopped writing and set down her pen. She shuffled the papers into a neat pile and then rested her back against the pillows stacked behind her. Her eyes flicked up at him, and then she gestured to the chair nearby. Sam eagerly went for it, pulling it close to sit beside her. His face was a mix of apprehension and confusion, and he sat on the edge of his seat.

“The theater fire….” They both said it together at the same time. Sam almost smiled, and Ruby had to look down at her hands.

“I started working for the CIA after the abduction.” Ruby said plainly, but her voice was quiet. “I reinserted myself undercover into the organization that was responsible for that fire.”

“That’s why you would never talk to me….because you were afraid it would blow your cover.”Sam’s eyes shimmered with understanding.

“No Sam, not exactly.” She looked at him then and that warmth that had been in her eyes a moment ago returned.

“Then why?” Sam placed his hands on the edge of the bed almost reaching for her.

“Because of Electro.” Her voice dropped and she leaned closer to him, “Because I didn’t want anyone to find out who he was….”She flicked her gaze to the guards at the door and then to the paper work in front of her. “Because I know who he is and I didn’t want to give away his identity….to anyone.” Sam swallowed and their eyes met. The whole time she had remained silent was to protect him. To keep his identity as Electro safe. To keep the organization in the dark about it and to keep the government blind to it.

“Ruby….I…”Sam leaned closer and took hold of one of her hands. His heart was beating a mile a minute in his chest and he eyes were brimming with emotion.

There was a heartbeat, a breath, where their lips nearly met as he drew in close to her. They could feel the warmth off each other’s mouth and for a lingering moment she closed her eyes and almost leaned in to him.

But then she pulled away and tucked her hands carefully in her lap under the table. Her eyes went to the papers before her and she let out a small sigh. “Please….Sam….this isn’t over yet. I need to go to Langley tomorrow to be debriefed. The people that did these things, all these things…they need to be stopped. I can’t allow myself to do or think of anything else until they are brought to justice.”

A small smile came over Sam’s face and he nodded but didn’t pull back. Instead he pushed the wheeled table away and climbed up to sit on the side of the bed facing her. When she looked up to protest he took her face into his hands, and looked deep into her eyes. “You missed on purpose. When you shot at…..Electro…..” He whispered and his eyes fell down to his stomach and then back up again to her eyes. “You never miss do you?”

“No…” Her voice came out a whisper and her bottom lip trembled ever so slightly.

Sam’s eyes fell to that lip and his smile curled up more, “I knew it.” In one quick move he brought their mouths together and he kissed her. He parted his lips slightly and suckled, drinking her in gently. He pulled away for a half second and then kissed her again, then twice more. When he leaned back her eyes were dazed and balmy, her hands cupped against his at her cheeks. He leaned in once more and kissed her again, and this time she returned it. Giving him everything in that kiss that she had kept hidden for the last four years. When they broke the kiss, Sam leaned his forehead against hers.

“Sam….” Her voice quivered.

“I missed you.” He said and his voice spoke of something more.

“I missed you too.” She took hold of his hands carefully and removed them from her face, “You have to let me go Sam.”

“I know.” Sam stood and gently tugged on one of her hands, “I know….” His smile was glowing though and he bent to kiss the top of her hand briefly before he let go of it. He walked to the door and paused before he opened it. “For now anyway.” He winked at her and then left.

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Dean woke just as the sun was creeping into the window of his hospital room. They had removed the tube from his throat sometime in the night and one of the nurses was just coming in to check on the status of his lungs. When she was done she poured him some water and made him drink it. As he was sipping at it, she looked idly out his window as she waited. She frowned slightly and walked over to the window, carefully touching it with her finger. She let out a small surprised and puzzled gasp.

“What is it? What’s wrong?” Dean asked, his voice slightly rough from the smoke still.

“It’s cold!” she exclaimed.

The sun began to stream in through the window brighter now, and Dean could see for himself why she was so startled. The entire window was covered in a thick coating of icy frost. The rime glazed over the glass surface in flat diamond patterns of pale blue and white. As the sun grew stronger, the ice crystals glittered in the light. The whole room began to shimmer and glisten as the sun came through the frost. It cast tiny prismatic rainbows everywhere and it was simply beautiful.

“That’s the strangest thing I’ve ever seen.” The nurse backed away and collected her clipboard, “I wonder how that happened?” She shrugged, told Dean someone would be along with his breakfast soon and she left.

"Huh...."Dean replied but inwardly he began to smile, knowing there was really only one explanation.

The sun crested higher and some of the ice began to melt. Dean turned as much as he could towards the window, enjoying how wonderful it looked. Then he saw something, down in one corner of the window nearest to his bed. There were words written in the ice, with the ice. Dean raised his brows and his smile beamed out huge.

The words said: _See you soon – Cas_

_(to be continued)_

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_Some of the original comments on this chapter when it was originally posted:_

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	14. Pointing a Way to the Moon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Each night after the day was over, Sam would drive them back to their shared apartment, and each night Castiel Novak would come with them." And Dean takes advantage of that.
> 
> Meanwhile, Benny dreams.....

The next three days passed and nothing happened beyond the normal day to day routine for the city. Schools were open, though with emergency drills each day. People went to work, though with eyes more ready for danger than they had been previously. By the third day the general populace began to relax. Construction crews began rebuilding the bridge, parts of the university and repairing the school. The news paper ran daily updates on the progress the authorities were making in their investigations and the paper began to run the personal stories of the victims in a special section of the paper highlighting the funerals for the dead as they began to take place. That last one was the hardest. There were so many it became common place, and so sadly it too became a part of the city’s daily rountine. The bulk of the city went back to business, back to school and back to their routine lives.

The Winchester brothers did not return to their routine lives however. Sam’s classes were canceled until make shift classrooms could be built to replace the ones lost in the bombing, and until more staff could be hired to replace those who were killed or cover for the injured until they could return to their jobs. Dean, with his leg in a cast, was pretty useless under a car until he healed more. Garth had given him paid medical leave and so Dean also found he had a lot of time on his hands. Seeing both his adopted sons with all this free time and nothing to occupy them, Bobby barked and guilt both of them to come in to the police station every day and assist with general clerical duties on all the open bombing cases.

Bobby tucked Sam away with the computer database staff in the hopes that Sam might uncover anything online or on some surveillance feed somewhere that would lead them to Raw Demon and his organization. He knew the Feds and the CIA and other government agencies were also on the case, but Bobby felt a duty to the citizens of Crescent City, and so he kept hunting for leads. Sam was grateful for the tasks, as it kept his mind off Ruby leaving town, and off the destruction and death of his classmates and teachers. It gave him something proactive to focus on.

Dean was placed in the evidence warehouse helping log and tag the literal tons of debris, bomb fragments, and other things discovered at all four large crime scenes. He worked elbow to elbow with city and federal staff painstakingly going over each and every broken bit of cement, metal and ash pile. By the end of day two however, Dean removed his sling and found his shoulder was completely healed.

Toward the end of each work day, Castiel would come by the station and sit in Bobby’s office and the two of them would talk for an hour or so. Castiel telling Bobby everything about his brother, filling in the information gaps in the police files. He told Bobby how he had been drugged and abducted, much like his brother Michael had been several years ago. Only Michael’s broken body had been recovered in the Chicago River and Castiel had somehow managed to slip away in the chaos on the roof. Castiel told Bobby everything he knew about Luc Novak, aka Raw Demon and in turn Bobby passed this information along to the other agencies working the case.

Each night after the day was over, Sam would drive them back to their shared apartment, and each night Castiel Novak would come with them. The first night they had picked up tacos from a little street cart vendor on the corner near the police station. The second night they had swung by the Thai Place that Castiel loved and had dinner there again. The third night Sam had made enchiladas with mole’ sauce and avocado, then later the three went up to the roof of the building and drank bottles of Tecate cerveza while sitting on creaky old lawn chairs.

The roof was a semi- pitched thing, ugly with rough tar and dirt. There were a handful of satellite TV dishes scattered along the edge all pointing south and a long bent and disused metal TV antennae wrenched at a twisted angle in one corner. It wasn’t glamorous but the breeze was nice and the view was even better. From there they could see the downtown area with all the fancy lights blazing over the hotels and condos. And they could see the bridge lights in the distance winking in the haze of the sky.

After an hour or so Sam had said good night and had left Dean and Cas alone to stare up at the stars together. Of course with the light pollution from the city, there weren’t many stars that stood out. But Castiel seemed to know which was which, and he pointed out that one of them was actually the planet Jupiter. He was leaning back somewhat awkwardly against the rickety chair he was in and drew a line with his finger across the sky from the edge of the moon down to a bright light point halfway to the horizon of the city.

Dean had set his empty bottle down and tried to follow Castiel’s line, but he was at the wrong angle. He got up and dragged his chair to brunt against the side of Castiel’s chair, and leaned against the other man’s side to see more. “I still dunno where Cas….” Dean bent in closer and brushed his jaw against Castiel’s shoulder. He didn’t do a very good job of hiding the smile creeping up on the edges of his mouth.

Castiel continued to patiently point, “Follow the edge of the moon in a straight line down…see it now?”

Dean drew in closer and turned his head so that his chin was on Castiel’s shoulder now, and when he spoke Castiel could feel the low hummed words against his ear. Dean slid his hand down along Castiel’s sleeve, pulled the man’s hand down and kept a gentle hold. “....it is like a finger pointing a way to the moon. Don't concentrate on the finger or you will miss all that heavenly glory…..”Dean’s lopsided smile swelled as he looked at Castiel’s profile with hooded eyes.

Castiel turned with a puzzled expression clouding his features. He drew back just slightly so he could meet Dean’s gaze with his own but his body didn’t move. Now he could feel Dean’s breath ghosting against his lips. The blue in Castiel’s eyes went from that worn denim color into a deeper indigo. “I don’t understand that reference…..” He said, and the words came out a lot fainter than he had intended.

The light from one of the street lamps was dancing in Dean’s eyes now, making the green of his irises seem iridescent. “It’s a quote Cas, from the movie ‘Enter the Dragon’. You know, Bruce Lee.” Dean’s words were lightly teasing, but his voice was lower and husky.

“I know….I remember I just….” Castiel’s eyes went up in a slight frown, “I meant, what are _you_ referencing? You aren’t looking at the sky….”His eyes were on Dean’s mouth now and his voice was barely more than a whisper.

Dean crowded in more, pressing Castiel back against the back of his lawn chair and Dean let his eyes sweep over Castiel’s face. “I don’t want to miss all _this_ heavenly glory….” There was a silent pause as Dean hovered over Castiel, their eyes bounding back and forth between each other’s gaze and each other mouths. When Castiel didn’t move, Dean closed the distance and captured Castiel’s mouth into a firm thirsty kiss. A tiny muffled sound of surprise bubbled in Castiel’s throat and for a half second his eyes went wide and dark. But when Dean released the kiss and followed it quickly with another, Castiel’s hesitancy drained away and his lips melted into Dean’s.

Dean shifted while they continued to kiss, bringing his body alongside Castiel’s on the lawn chair. He had one arm alongside Castiel and was working his other hand under Castiel’s suit jacket when the chair made a loud snapping sound and it gave way with a hard jerk beneath both of them. They landed with a loud “ooof” coming out of both of their mouths and the chair crunched under their bodies. Dean erupted into burbling low laughter and he let his head fall against Castiel’s shoulder.

Castiel brought his arms to wrap around Dean's shoulders and he felt the way Dean's whole body resonated with that laugh. He looked skyward and blinked, and when he spoke his voice was low and raspy, “Dean, is the earth always going to move when you kiss me?”

The smile on Dean’s face glowed like it had gone nuclear and he buried his face against Castie's neck, “I hope so Cas….I hope so”

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Benny was huffing out a controlled breath as he and his platoon pushed along. They were surrounded by beige and yellow stirred up desert dust in a hard rucked march, their faces covered by various means as they plowed across the sand. It was World War II and they were doing training exercises near Fort Needles in Northern Africa. An order came down from the LT up ahead via hand signal and the men began to spread out. Benny had turned to see where the soldier to his left had gone when suddenly he was underwater, aqualung and breather at his mouth, diving gear on his back and a deep sea mask over his eyes. He had a knife out in one hand and the belly of a boat overhead. The vast dark blue of the ocean was spread out all around him. He could see other members of his team clinging like tiny fish to the underside of the boat as they carried out their mission.

Benny knew what came next. The dreams were always the same. The military. The missions. Some of them were his memories. Some of them weren’t. Sometimes he was fighting alongside the British against the Zulu, blood and bodies and the high African sun everywhere. Sometimes he was firing strange laser canons whilst wearing a space suit. Sometimes he was dragging a club or carrying a spear and wearing little more than animal skins.

The dreams only came after times he would use his gifts extensively. It was part of the price he paid to do what he could do. Part of being connected to what fueled his powers. Or more, to who fueled his powers and who had bestowed these gifts.

The dream continued and soon there were pale hands reaching for his chest. Long spindled fingers cold as the nothing of space itself would come and flatten themselves against his chest. Along his heart. Over the hot hollow wound that was once there but was no more. In the dream he always looked, always watched. Behind him he would hear the flutter of black crow wings. The call of the corvids echoing on a battlefield. And then the hands would be gone and the two who authored his new existence, this strange vocation, would stand before him with weighted countenance and merely nod; Raven and Death.

Benny woke.

He stirred, and sat up pulling his hand over his face. Near him in bed, Christina was curled against her pillow. Her peaceful even breathing was a balm to his ears. He bent over and placed a tender kiss to her cheek and then eased out of bed. He made his way to the nearby window and leaned against its frame. He lifted one finger to nudge back the edge of the curtain and looked up to the moon. Everything was still and silent. Benny let out an easy breath. He glanced back at Christina’s form snuggled in the bed and smiled.

They had spent the better part of the last few days talking. Well more like he had spent that time telling her his life story and she would walk out of the room to breathe, give herself a moment to process what she had been told, and then she would walk back into the room again to have him continue. She had taken it all rather well.

It’s not every day you discover that your boyfriend has been around for over a hundred years, that he had been nearly killed in the American Civil War and that as he lay dying he had made a pact with The Native American trickster god, Raven and with Death himself to become an indestructible undead force of balance and retribution.

He smirked in the glooming and let the curtain fall closed. He moved back to the bed and slid in, coiling around Christina and drawing her close. The only thing she had been angry about was that he had been helping the terrorist, Raw Demon when they had first come to town, but had forgiven him when he continued to assist the police with anonymous calls that lead them to new information about the bomb cases. One of those tips lead the police to find and confiscate several hundred pounds of bomb making equipment and materials that Luc had hidden away. Benny was particularly pleased with that turn of events. He was sure that would set back Luc’s plans at least a little and maybe given the authorities more time to stop Raw Demon.

Benny puffed out a small chuckle and it ruffled at Christina’s ear. She made a soft sound and her eyes opened. Their smiles mirrored each other as he leaned over her and she eagerly ran her hands up around his shoulders. He dipped his mouth down along her neck and rumbled out a low purr.

He could put up with a few unpleasant dreams as long as he had her to wake up to.

_(to be continued)_


	15. I Never Asked

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sam, Dean and Castiel are asked to attend a mysterious meeting inside an abandoned warehouse.

“Dean, the text just gave this address….and that was all.” Sam, was dressed in his Electro outfit…the deep navy blue jacket with the small lightning bolt on it and navy cargo pants, his goggles were over his eyes. He felt along the outside wall of one of the many abandoned warehouses sitting near the freeway in the city. “And we found the cheap ass cell phone that made the call in the dumpster on the other side of this warehouse so…”

“Don’t remind me….”Dean groaned. He was in his Hunter gear, the hood was pulled up on his jacket, his goggles were on and his batons were out and cradled in his hands. “I swear I am never gonna get the smell out of my freakin’ nose.” To emphasize he waved his hand around his nose and made a disgusted face.

Sam gave Dean a sour look in response and then continued, “So this is where the informant said they wanted to meet….”he paused and gestured to the warehouse, “But I am not going in there without doing some recon on the building. We could be walking into a trap.” He continued to feel along the side of the warehouse a moment longer, and then halted. He pointed to a small section of the wall, “There. Can you break through so I can access the power wires inside?”

Dean smirked and stepped up to the wall, spinning one of his batons in his hand. He was about to crack it against the warehouse’s exterior when a small ball of hazy broiling ice came shooting over his shoulder and smacked the wall hard. It sent a puff of ice and mist clouding gently against Dean’s face. The wall cracked and a fissure spread in spidering filaments over its surface. Dean looked over his shoulder at Castiel hovering nearby, his power fully on and glowing with its usual blue violet vapor.

“Show off.” Dean barked at Castiel, then whapped the iced over wall with a quick sting of his baton. The wall area crumbled revealing a bundle of electric wires within.

Sam reached in, spread his fingers and laced them in between the wires. “Dean, what happened to your leg cast?” Sam glanced down at Dean’s leg, and then looked to the wires as he sent tiny crackling sparks through them. The blue white glow from Sam’s electrical power shimmered on both his and Dean’s bodies.

“Cas froze it and I shattered it. I was healed but the doc wouldn’t take the damn thing off for another three weeks……Fuck that.” Dean bounced lightly on his toes, dancing back and forth from leg to leg as if to emphasize how healthy he was. Then he spun the baton in his left hand. He looked up at Castiel and winked at him. Castiel merely floated where he was and canted his head to the side in reply. A wicked smile bloomed across Dean’s face as he looked up at Castiel, “Gonna be fun having you along for the ride tonight Cas….Sammy and I don’t usually have your kind of awesome-tastic back-up on our gigs.”

“Huh.” Sam said and then withdrew his hand. “The building is completely dead. No power at all.”

“Maybe they think you need to draw your power from an external source, so killing the power would render you less effective?” Dean shrugged looking to his brother.

Sam scoffed, “Amateurs.” He let a bright hot arc of electricity race out of his palm to dance and route around his body once before he snuffed it out.

“Don’t get cocky,” Dean wagged his finger at Sam, “That’s my job.”

Sam huffed out a laugh, “Well get going then Mr. Cockypants. We need to know what we are walking in on.”

Dean nodded, and closed his eyes. He pulled open his hunter perceptions, casting them wide. He listened, drew in a deep breath of the air and became very very still. He edged his chin slightly to the left and an intense look crossed his face. He turned his face to the left more and breathed in deep again. “There are three people inside….one of them is Ash…..”

Sam raised his eyebrows for a moment and then a thought crossed his mind and he frowned. “Is he being held against his will? Is he bait or something?”

Dean drank in another breath, “No, he’s calm. Heart rate is easy. The woman with him is a little nervous though and excited. Her heart rate is up. She’s fidgety. But….”Dean frowned heavily, “It’s the third one…”

Sam took a slight step closer to Dean, “And?”

“It’s like….I can feel his displacement in the air but his heart rate is….it’s like it’s there but it’s not there. It’s like he’s there but at the same he’s not there.”Dean opened his eyes and the fierce gleaming green of his irises nearly glowed in spite of the tint to his goggles. He glanced up at Castiel, “Cas? I want you on the outside for now. Find a place where you can keep tabs on us and on Ash. Come crashing in if you see me pull out my batons okay?” Castiel nodded and whisked up and out of the brother’s sight. Dean raised his arms and slid his batons up inside his sleeves. They seated into the dispensing mechanisms hidden there with a soft click.

Dean and Sam walked around to the door they had passed earlier when they had arrived. Dean pulled open the door, and cast his eyes into the vast not quite empty warehouse beyond. In the center stood three figures with small portable battery powered camping lanterns arranged in a circle around them. Ash stood to the side, his stance relaxed with his hands in his pockets. Dean recognized the woman as being a well known reporter from the Crescent City Tribune. She was pacing slightly and looking from Ash to the man standing with them. Dean paused and took a moment to really look at this man.

He was tall, as tall as Dean. He was built husky with muscular broad shoulders and solid limbs. He held himself as a well trained fighter would, easy and relaxed but with that tense coil lying just below the surface ready to call into action. He was wearing a pea coat and a Greek captain’s hat, and he had a red blond beard shot with threads of silver and white.

But that wasn’t what gave Dean pause. All around the man an aura of energy ebbed and swelled like some strange rippling tide. It billowed in places and Dean could make out an echo of vast empty space beyond it, as if he was connected to some part of the universe beyond. In other places it fluttered with the hint of blue black crow’s wings as they shot out and then pulled back in on themselves again. It was disorienting and Dean dialed down his visual perceptions slightly. He stepped into the warehouse and Sam followed. The brothers walked to the lantern circle but did not step inside it.

Ash spoke when they stopped, “Yea, hey….uh….Electro. So you know Christina Ronald from the paper…and this is Benny Lafitte. We uh, kinda thought it was time you and the Hunter met up with Benny here….and I came along so you wouldn’t think there was anything shady going on….”

Sam gave a light nod of understanding to Ash and Ash gave a faint smile in return.

Christina boldly stepped out of the lantern circle then to approach Sam and Dean. She extended her hand to Sam, “Electro, so good of you to come. Thank you.” Sam took her hand and shook it, and noted that she didn’t flinch at the contact like a lot of people did when he was obviously in his superhero persona. Christina turned to Dean and offered her hand, “And the Hunter, thank you for coming.” Dean shook her hand and eyed her carefully.

“I set this meeting up….and you are probably wondering why I called from that pay-as-you-go cell phone to bring you here.” She clasped her hands gently in front of her and met Sam and Dean’s gaze as she spoke, “I thought it was best that way, to convey the authenticity of this meeting since that’s the method your mystery informant has used in the past.” She gestured to Benny and began to step away moving slowly towards the door Dean and Sam had just used to enter. Ash joined her, giving Sam another friendly nod. Christina continued, “I figure you gentlemen should probably talk in private.” She and Ash left, but she gave both brothers an appraising look before she closed the door shut behind her.

Benny stood silent a moment and then crossed over to the brothers. He offered his hand to Dean and then to Sam, who both took it and shook. “Sorry this is so unconventional but, I figured it best we do this some place Raw Demon’s spies won’t see.” Benny looked up, gave a small whistle and a large crow came swooping down from the upper rafters to settle easily on Benny’s shoulder. “Why don’t you invite your friend down too.” Benny glanced up at the skylight above them.

Dean looked up and realized Benny could see Castiel poised in his bumble bee flight just beyond the glass of the skylight above them. Dean sighed and rolled his eyes, then motioned to Castiel to come down.

Castiel ran a hand around the edge of one pane, and then laid his hand flat against the glass. He rippled his misty ice over it and it crumbled to sand, floating down to dust the floor below. Then he slipped through the hole it had created. He floated down to suspend himself protectively just behind Dean’s shoulder between he and Sam.

Benny smiled warmly and let a soft rumble of a chuckle out. “Well well, The Comet.”He let his smile grow wider and it took on an easy and relaxed affect. “It really is a pleasure to meet you boys.”

Sam took a step forward, “So why are we here Mr. Lafitte?”

“Jus’ Benny…call me Benny….”Benny raised his hand and affectionately stroked the breast of the crow perched on him, then he took a deep breath. “I used to run with Raw Demon. Now I don’t. I know you boys have been working hard to clean up that bastard’s messes, and I thought perhaps if we worked together we could get that son-of-a-bitch into a prison cell where he belongs.”

“So you’re the one who helped free Bobby on the roof that morning…”Sam narrowed his eyes slightly, “And you called me to warn about the school…”

“Yes I did…”Benny looked to Sam, “Ruby gave me your number. Said if I wanted to make good, you were the one to call….”

Sam visibly tensed and flexed his hands. “You know Ruby?”

“Knew….when we were with Raw Demon. Shame she’s off in some federal prison now. She was a sweet girl.” Benny shook his head.

“She’s not…”Sam slipped and then lowered his head, clenching his hands into fists.

Benny raised his brows and let his smile fall, “Oh… _oh_ ….” A look crossed his face as if some puzzled piece had been dropped into place in his head. “You loved her back….”

Sam shoved his hands deep into his pockets and steeled his face. He looked back to Benny, “Okay so …. You wanna work with us? How?”

Benny let slip a chuckle again as if Sam’s reaction not only made sense, but was empathized as well. He settled after a moment and became serious.“Phase One was chaos.”

“Chaos?” Dean spoke now, angling his head to the side but keeping his burning green eyes on Benny.

“Chaos. Divide and scramble. Th’ first attack on th’ bridge was designed to draw out th’ protective forces in the city.” Benny looked at the brothers, “Th’ school was also a test…..for response times, for emergency reaction from th’ city. But th’ school was supposed to also cripple moral. Raw Demon’s goal was to kill all those children.” Benny’s voice had lowered with a simmering pained edge. “Then th’ two attacks that morning…th’ one downtown and th’ one at the university….those were to deal a blow to you two.” Benny pointed at Sam and Dean. “Raw Demon meant to break you.”

“How did he know those would affect us?” Sam’s shoulders pulled up in a strained uncomfortable gesture.

“Raw Demon has spies all over this city. He knew you went to th’ university…”Benny looked at Sam, “He knew where you worked…”Benny looked at Dean, “He knew your connection to Commissioner Singer.”

Dean murmured, “Th’ graffiti on the outside of th’ garage marked where we were…”

“Targets.” Benny sighed, “Now I’ve bought us some time with th’ info I sent to th’ police this week….But with Ruby and I bugging out of th’ nest, Raw Demon is bound to have switched up his plans for Phase Two.”

“Phase Two?!” Dean growled, “What was it originally?”

“Toxic poisoning of th’ water supply followed by having his followers incite rioting all over th’ city, and then punctuated by more bomb explosions.” Benny shifted on his feet and the crow did a small dance on Benny’s shoulder as it adjusted it perch.

“You think he won’t go that route now?” Dean raised one brow at Benny.

“Nah. He won’t have surprise on his side. The police have th’ bomb materials stash plus by tomorrow th’ police will also have th’ toxins for th’ poison in their custody….No, Raw Demon will find some other method and I think I know what he’ll shoot for.” Benny grinned then, and some of the color hollowed out of his face. Dean saw the aura around Benny wobble with a brief flutter of intensity. “I think he’ll go big. I think he’ll be furious that his original plans have gone haywire. I think he’ll lash out with an angry snarl.”

Dean paced along the edge of the lantern circle for a few short strides. He fingered the edges of his sleeves as he thought to himself. In his head he was lining up an ordered list of the different methods of attack Raw Demon had used, and how they had been deployed. He stopped and looked up at Castiel. He and the Comet shared some unspoken communication as they just stared at each other for a long moment, then Dean looked away.

“What are you thinking….Dea…er…Hunter…?” Sam caught himself just before he spoke his brother’s name out loud.

Dean tossed his gaze to his brother and then to Benny. He gestured in Benny’s direction, “I’m thinking if the Bad Guy knows where you went to school and where I worked he probably knew our names as well, and there is probably no point in hiding them from Benny here….”

Castiel shivered visibly causing a faint powder of ice to snow down under him to the floor and then shook his head no when they all looked to him. He pointed to the door and gestured as if to remind the brothers of the two people waiting outside.

“Oh right. Reporter.” Dean nodded, “Good call Comet.”

Sam cleared his throat to get Dean back to the topic of Raw Demon. Dean gave a small exasperated sigh and turned to Benny, “My feeling is Raw Demon won’t give up his love affair with explosives. He’s used them in every single method of attack as their base. If you think he’s going to lash out, then a bomb…or maybe several bombs placed in the city is my guess. Something that will do a lot more damage than what we’ve seen so far.”

Benny agreed. “He’ll have t’ contract out for that. None of his current team know big explosives.”

“Ruby will know who he’d go to. Or she’ll have an idea. I’ll contact her tonight.”Sam eased his hands out of his pockets and seemed to relax a little.

“Okay. So we figure out who he would hire for the build, we keep tabs on the materials he’d need and then we can sort out the type of bomb. From there it should be easy to figure out how he intends to execute everything. “ Dean gave a light shrug and said sarcastically, “Yea. Should be easy. No problem.”

Benny let loose a gentle laugh and the crow took flight off his shoulder to soar back up into the rafters of the warehouse. He beamed a smile at Dean, “We’ll work it out.” Then he dug into his pocket and pulled out a business card. “Tha’s Christina’s contact info. When you are ready to talk again, you can reach me through her.”

Dean took the card, scrutinized it once, and then deposited it into his jacket pocket. “So Benny…what’s your story man? Bobby said you appeared out of thin air, you called a whole freakin’ army of birds to come help on that roof, you took four shots from a long range rifle for fuck’s sake…. and barely flinched….” Dean made an annoyed face and gestured around Benny, “And there is some kind of space jellyfish craziness with crow wings and weirdness going on all over you….”

Benny paused and furrowed his brows a moment, “Space jellyfish craziness….?”

“Yea, it looks like Doctor Who’s TARDIS vomited all over you.” Dean made a childish ‘eew’ face. “What happened to you man?”

Benny gave a curt nod, “Ah….yea.” He took in a deep slow breath and then let it out. He looked down to the toes of his shoes and spoke with a low timbre to his voice. “I’s a Union soldier in th’ summer of 1862 and part of th’ Union fleet anchored along the Yazoo river in Louisiana. Th’ Confederate ironclad ram Arkansas inflicted a lot a’damage on us as she passed through to Vicksburg….and I was one of them that was damaged.” Benny paused and looked up at the brothers, his eyes cold with an honest seriousness. “As I felt my life slip out of me I prayed. Oh did I pray.” Benny shook his head slowly back and forth, “I prayed and poured my whole soul into it. And miracle of miracles I was heard. “Benny gave a rueful chuckle then. “But I wasn’t heard by any Angel of the Lord. Instead two very powerful beings came to my side, both having heard me and both being intrigued at my bargaining pleas to save my life. They weren’t together and both were surprised to see th’ other show up.”

Benny looked to the rafters, “One was a Native American trickster looking to gain himself a soldier in a different sort of war he was waging….” Benny gave out a low whistle and the crow sailed back down on silent wings to rest again on his shoulder. “It was Raven. Raven said that th’ gleam in my eye gave him ideas and so he reached to touch me, to save me and bargain for a price with me.” Benny raised one finger and held it pointing in a general random gesture, “But the other was Death himself, come to see what all th’ piteous noise I was making was about… what with so many others dying and just assigning themselves into his hands without a fight.”

Benny continued, “Death and Raven made a wager then. They would divide me and each saved half. And each took me to a task. They thought by charging me with dual callings I would entertain them as I warred with myself and eventually begged for th’ end of my existence.” Benny nudged the crow and it took flight again, “They underestimated me.”

Dean made a small “Huh” sound and gave off a look of being mildly impressed, “So what were these tasks?”

“Raven wanted me to subvert, to cause dissention and chaos. But Death, Death wanted me to be a warrior for order and a force of balance. So when I was healed up and out and about, I made my way to Washington D.C. and offered myself up to be used by th’ United States government as a spy. This way I could sow chaos among enemies of the U.S. and still support the order of the government.” Benny smirked, “In 1867 I was part of th’ original Secret Service. Wood recruited me himself.”

Sam’s brows shot up high on his forehead and he blinked a moment, “Chief William P. Wood?”

Benny nodded, “Yes, Tha’s right. Fore father of your Police Commissioner Singer yes?”

Sam gave a small smile, “Yea, yea…..wow.”

“So what stuff did Death and Raven do to you because….”Dean gestured again around Benny, making his hands flutter and his fingers wiggle.

“Death gave me th’ ability to travel much like he does, but over short spans. I can teleport from one place t’ another just by focusing on that spot. Th’ furthest I been able to reach so far is about one thousand feet, but it taxes me pretty hard. I can also pass through solid non-living matter, like doors and walls and such when I focus on it. And Raven gave me the gift of the crows. They can be my eyes and ears, and when I ask nice they will help me out.” Benny glided his hands into the pockets of his coat.

“And the getting shot and not getting hurt thing?” Dean asked.

“A side affect. Turns out when you die once, Death isn’t inclined to come ‘round every time I stub my toe or get stabbed in th’ heart.” Benny just grinned.

“Huh.” Dean said it again and gained an annoyed look from Sam.

“Now what about you boys? I’ve seen you in action and you aren’t dancing t’ th’ usual everyday beat….”Benny raised an eyebrow and switched his gaze between both brothers.

“Genetic mutation apparently.” Sam spoke up. “We were abandoned on someone’s doorstep as an infant,” Sam pointed to himself, “…and a toddler” He pointed to Dean. “I’ve been trying to gather information on where we may have come from before that, but so far it’s turning up dead ends.”

Benny looked up to the Comet floating silently nearby save for the soft hiss of hazy vapor wafting off his glowing body, “And The Comet? What’s his story?”

Sam looked at Dean questioningly and Dean looked up at Castiel. A deep pervasive unease started coiling in Dean’s gut as it dawned on him just how little he knew about Castiel and his past. Then it hit Dean like a freight train that he wanted more than just a casual physical relationship with Cas. He wanted to know Castiel, know everything about the man. Where he came from, what happened in his past. How did he become the Comet? Dean didn’t know and he was overwhelmed now with an aching need to learn.

Dean swallowed hard and gave his brother a shrug as he remained looking up at Castiel. “I never asked?”

Sam gaped at his brother, “You never asked?!”

Dean feigned embarrassment mixed with anger and let his attitude carve an out for himself, “Yea well…I’m an asshole okay?” He turned away from the group and pressed his hand against his stomach as if to stop it tumbling around inside him. He could feel Cas looking at him and impact of the knowledge that he might be falling in love with Cas made him giddy and dizzy and nauseous all at once.

“Let’s get out of here okay? We don’t have time for all this bullshit. We’ve got work to do.” And with that Dean stormed off defiantly for the door.

_(to be continued)_


	16. The Bank Job

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Crescent City, a jewel on the Southern California coastline knows its share of tragedy. But it also has unique individuals working to help save the city whenever possible: The Hunter, Electro, and now the Comet.
> 
> Castiel's temp job as a secretary turns out to be a little more than he was expecting, and Dean isn't happy about the turn of events.

The American National Unified Bank sat on the corner of Cherry Street and Willow Street, and it really wasn’t anything impressive to look at. It had been built sometime in the 1980s and it was as bland and unimpressive as the strip mall sitting next door. It had a big sign on the corner that said “ANU Bank: America’s Family Bank” and it had a row of tastefully sculpted flower beds surrounding the sign. Inside was the typical bank layout. Entry lobby for customers with the lone chest high table in the center to use in filling out deposit slips, the usual five or six walk up windows to the bank tellers, and the areas beyond where the bank staff worked.

It was here that Castiel currently sat at a desk, temping as the bank manager’s secretary while the regular person, Bernadette, was out on vacation leave. The temp agency that Castiel worked for had kindly given him another assignment so he wouldn’t have to drive all the way around the harbor now that the bridge was being repaired. Castiel didn’t mind working at the bank however. It was only ten blocks from his apartment, there was a nice little Vietnamese restaurant in the strip mall that served excellent Pho, and the bank manager, Nita Agonne, was a no nonsense single mother that treated her staff well. Being treated well currently included a large chipotle brownie that sat wrapped up on the corner of Castiel’s desk. All the employees had similar bundles at their stations or at their desks. Castiel’s desk sat just outside of Ms Agonne’s open office door and he was busy typing up the end of the week reports to the home office.

“Hey Castiel, can you please shoot over the quarterly graph charts for last October?” Ms Agonne called out, “Not the print outs, the Excel file.”

Castiel stopped typing, minimized the word doc file he had open and clicked into the main server. In seconds he had found the file and was attaching it into an email and sending to Ms Agonne, “I’ve emailed it to you. Is that alright?” He said.

“Perfect thanks, “She called back with a smile in her voice, “When you are done typing up the weeklies will you go take your fifteen minute break? I have a twelve o’clock conference call with the Denver office and I’ll need you to take a later lunch so you can man the phones while I’m on the line with them.”

Castiel stood and peered around the edge of the door into her office. “I’ll go now if that’s alright.”

“Yea sure, just make sure you take that brownie with you. There are shameless confectionary thieves everywhere around here. If left unattended it’ll pull a disappearing act that Houdini hasn’t even seen.” She gave a warm chuckle and made a gentle shoo-ing gesture with her hand. She was a rosy cheeked Philippine woman with long dark hair and playful dark eyes. If Castiel had met her outside of the bank he would have thought her more a school teacher than a successful bank manager.

Castiel nodded and gave her a small smile, then turned and palmed the brownie into his hand as he passed his desk. He loosened his neck tie slightly and walked between the rows of desks where the loan managers were, making his way back along behind the tellers to the employee break room. He was just passing one of the tellers, a young man named Jude, when he noticed the man at Jude’s window.

He was burly and hunched over at an odd angle with the collar of his coat turned way up. He was wearing large dark sunglasses still even though he was inside, and he had his arms folded awkwardly on the edge of the counter. Something about the man made Castiel feel as if there was something not quite right about the situation, so Castiel paused as if he was stopping to check his jacket pocket for something.

Castiel quickly skimmed his eyes over Jude and noticed the stiff way the young man was holding himself, and the fine trickle of sweat running down the back of Jude’s neck. Castiel feigned dropping his brownie and bent down to pick it up. When he stood up again to look at the hunched over man once more he saw the barrel of a gun just peeking out of the man’s sleeve. The gun wasn’t pointed at the teller, but instead at the customer standing at the next teller station, a young mother with a toddler boy in her arms.

Castiel calmly turned and walked to the next teller station, and lifted his head to scan the rest of the bank. There were three more men hunched over at the other teller windows much like the one at Jude’s window. Castiel swallowed and moved into the employee break room. He quickly got his cell phone out and hit Dean’s number to connect.

A long tense moment later Dean’s voice came over the line, “Hey Cas, what’s up? Wanna grab lunch?”

“Dean, the bank is being robbed.” Castiel began to pull his neck tie off.

“Whoa, whoa….what?!” Cas could hear Dean toss down one of his tools into its tool box.

“I’m working at the bank on the corner of Willow and Cherry. There are four men that I’ve seen so far. One is armed…..they probably all are armed now that I think about it……” Cas slid out of his suit jacket and dropped it on a chair next to his tie, “What do I do? I’ve never stopped a bank robbery before….” Cas cradled his phone against his shoulder to free his hand and began to unbutton his shirt.

“Hold on Cas, don’t do anything. Just wait…I’m on my way….”Dean huffed and Cas could hear him jogging across the garage.

“Dean, you’re at work….”Cas slipped his shirt off and put it with the jacket and tie.

“Yea and Garth knows that I’m…. you know…. _freelancing_ ……look I’ll be right there. Just hold tight and don’t do anything. I don’t want you getting shot.”Dean barked out, the anxiety in his voice coming through over the phone.

“I should be safe once I am in my Comet form,” Cas pointed out.

“Yea? You know that for sure? You ever been shot at when you are all cold fire?” Dean pulled the phone away and was talking to Garth in muffled voices.

Castiel frowned.

“Well? Have you?” Dean came back on the line.

“No.”

“Then you don’t know if bullets will hurt you or not.” Dean said defiantly, “Just stay put Cas! I don't want you getting hurt.....” And he ended the call.

Castiel slid his phone back into his pocket. He paced once in the break room and then went to listen at the door leading out to the rest of the bank. He opened it a crack and peered out. Everything seemed as it was before, silent tension with most of the people in the bank unaware that anything was happening. Then Castiel saw Jude lean slightly to his left as he went reaching to set off the silent alarm switch.

The man with the gun must have noticed it too, because he suddenly stepped back and shouted, “THIS IS A ROBBERY….EVERYONE ON THE FLOOR….NOW!”

Castiel leaned back into the break room and unbuckled his belt. The tellers and the bank staff were safe behind the bullet proof windows and walls, but the other customers in the lobby were vulnerable and exposed. Castiel pulled off his pants, shoes and socks. He couldn’t wait for Dean. He had to do something now. Wasn’t this why he had been allowed to live after the accident? So he could use this strange gift he was given to save lives? Castiel moved to the door wearing just his boxer briefs.

A gun went off and there was a scream.

Castiel burst into cold flame vapor.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------

Dean peeled into the strip mall, slamming his Impala into park and leaping from the car almost before it had stopped moving. He had his Hunter gear on, the hood up, his goggles on and his perception open wide to the world around him. He was less than five yards from the bank building and already the scent of a discharged gun and the scent of blood screamed into his nose. Dean raced up to the side of the bank and scanned over the outer face. There were wide windows in the front that reach partly along the side showing office area. The rest of the outer wall was solid stone or concrete. Dean slipped up alongside the windows by the office desks and crouched low. He looked into the office area cautiously and found a woman with dark hair pressed against the door frame to that office and she was looking out beyond on tip toe. She took in a shaky breath and then turned back into the office with a worried look on her face. That’s when she caught sight of Dean, The Hunter, looking at her through the window. He motioned her closer and gestured for her to open the window. She shook her head and mouthed out the words, “It doesn’t open!”

Dean sighed with annoyance and flexed his left forearm. His baton along the inside of his sleeve ejected and slipped into his left hand. Dean hefted it and with one quick rap against the window, the glass broke. He cleared away the excess glass with the end of the baton and crawled into the room.

He hunkered down and came to crouch next to the woman beside the doorway, “Hi. I’m here to help…..”

“Uh…..”The woman blinked and let out a shocked laugh, “You’re….The Hunter…..”

Dean chuckled low, “Yea, I am. I was in the neighborhood and thought I’d make a withdrawal…..”He grinned cheekily up at her, “….a withdrawal of bad guys.”

The woman, Ms Agonne, frowned down at Dean, “That was terrible.”

Dean’s grin faded into almost a pout and he shifted, “Yea well…. What’s the status here?”

“See for yourself hotstuff.” She gestured to the ceiling of the bank lobby.”They shot one of the male customers in the leg…..and….well….”

The Comet was hovering in the air near the high ceiling over the bank lobby, his hands flared out away from his sides with his fingers curled around writhing balls of misting and spitting icy fire. Below him the bank robbers were standing still with their guns trained up at the Comet. All save one gunman whose pistol was pressed to the side of a little boy’s temple.

“Do it you freak and this kid is dead. His blood on YOUR hands…” The gunman was snarling up at Castiel the Comet while gripping the boy tight by the hair. The boy, not more than a toddler, was looking up at Castiel with his shining eyes, hope and tears filling and spilling out as if to silently scream ‘save me!’.

The Comet held still but his shoulders arched and curled forward ever so slightly. Even without being able to see Castiel’s face, Dean knew that Cas’s eyes were narrowed down to angry vengeful slots.

The robbers began to ease back towards the front exit doors, taking the boy with them. Dean could hear the soft whimpering sobs of the boy’s mother from somewhere in the lobby but he couldn’t see her. Dean closed his eyes a moment and focused, channeling his perceptions on the bank robber gunman holding the boy. Honed in on the man’s heartbeat, on the scent of his sweat and adrenaline, on the air currents moving around the man’s body. He read the angle of the man’s hand and how he was gripping the gun, how the gunman tensed and flexed his shoulders and his legs as he backed up. How the pulse point in the man’s neck was jumping steady but hard. How his hand held the gun with cold ease instead of nervous tension. And it was clear to Dean that the man was going to shoot the boy no matter what happened that there was a perverse glee starting to roll off the gunman and that for him, this was just another day of fun.

Dean set his jaw and deployed his right hand baton into his grip. He scanned the bullet proof plexi-glass wall that rimmed the teller stations and saw that there was a four foot gap between its top and the high ceilings of the bank lobby. The top edge of plexi-glass itself was ten feet off the floor and Dean knew this would be a really risky play, but he had to get into that lobby.

In a burst of speed that left him a dark blur, Dean launched himself into a sprint through the office desks. He reached the last one before the teller stations, jumped on top of it and used it to launch his body up into the air. He had angled himself at a certain arc based on where he knew the gunman was standing with the boy and he aimed to come at them from the side holding the gun. He flicked a button on his batons and sharp metal claw like grapples snicked out. He flew up, caught the top of the plexi-glass wall with the claws and pulled with his arms, continuing his momentum up. There was no pause in his motion as he vaulted over the top of the plexi-glass to land into a tucked roll. He glanced up and kept moving as everything began to unravel at once.

The gunman’s finger was squeezing the trigger as Dean’s right clawed baton came down on top of the gun hand, pulling it away. A half second later the gun discharged and Dean’s full force was coming down against the gunman. Dean’s left shoulder rounded in then to connect with the gunman’s jaw. Dean’s right baton was hooked onto the gunman’s arm now and Dean viciously yanked it back, peeling the gunman into a twirl that sent them both spinning to the ground. The toddler was toss from the gunman’s grip and he went skidding with a cry across the lobby floor.

The second Castiel saw Dean fly over the plexi-glass he had shot his hands out, sending those seething balls of cold fire out to slam against the other bank robbers, freezing their guns and searing their hands.

And then everything was over. The bank robbers were in heaps on the ground groaning in pain except for the gunman Dean had taken out. The man was now slammed unconscious by Dean’s fist, his baton laying nearby on the floor.

The small boy got up on trembling feet and ran sobbing into his mother’s arms. Dean bent over and snagged his baton off the floor. He looked up at Castiel and nodded, but gave Cas a rough glare that showed how close that had been. Dean pointed at Castiel as if to say ‘We’ll talk about this later’ and then he turned and fled out the front exit as police sirens came wailing closer.

Castiel zipped out as well, and then doubled back to the back emergency exit. He punched through it, and shut down his power. It snuffed off in a light puff of misting frost and left him naked standing in the back by the break room. He quickly slipped unnoticed through its door. He tugged on his trousers as fast as possible as the commotion in the rest of the bank began to grow louder as the police arrived. He slipped his shirt, socks and shoes on, tossed his tie over his shoulder and grabbed his jacket.

The brownie was left forgotten on the break room table.

_(to be continued)_


	17. Shiver

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Crescent City, a jewel on the Southern California coastline knows its share of tragedy. But it also has unique individuals working to help save the city whenever possible: The Hunter, Electro, and now the Comet.
> 
> Dean hears the Comet's origin and in the end it leaves him shivering.

“Cas! Don’t you get it man?! Someone could have been shot…..YOU could have been shot….”Dean was standing barefoot in Castiel’s small apartment near the kitchen area. He had a half finished bottle of Red Stripe in one hand and he was gesturing with the other. “That guy today, the gunman at the bank? He was looking for a kill. Looking for it Cas!”

“Are you saying I should have just cowered in the break room and done nothing at all?!”Castiel snapped. He had a beer in his hand as well and he was near the small table in the kitchen area leaning the cushy part of his ass on the back of one of his simple dining chairs. He also was barefoot and he had removed his jacket and tie. The two of them had come to Castiel’s after work on Dean’s insistence so they could discuss what happened during the bank robbery.

“I am not saying that at all Cas. But you should have waited for me. Let me assess the situation first and formed a plan. Then we could have gone in using tactics that would have lessened the risk.” Dean pleaded gently, his green eyes imploring Cas. When Castiel was silent and continued to frown Dean said, “I just have more experience with these things okay? I’ve been doing this for eight years now….”

Castiel looked down at the bottle in his hands and thumbed over its lip. “You don’t trust me.”

“What are you talking about Cas? I trust you!” Dean took a step closer, his hand still extended with his palm open and turned up. “I trust you. But I’ve had training and you haven’t.”

Cas still didn’t look at Dean, “What training have you had?” His words came out sharp and slightly bitter.

“Police training…from Bobby. And some military training from two of Bobby’s friends. Cas…”Dean stepped closer again and slipped his hand along Castiel’s arm to his elbow. He dipped his head slightly to place himself within Castiel’s line of sight.

Castiel shook him off and moved away from Dean into the living room area. “Stop it. I’m not a child Dean. I’m older than you are for heaven’s sake. I think I know how to make decisions and….” He held still and pulled his fist into a tight grip.

Dean’s head fell down and he let out a low sigh. “Cas… how long have you had your power?” His voice was gentle and curious.

Castiel relaxed his fist and half looked over his shoulder at Dean, “Why?”

Dean set his beer down on the small table in the kitchen area and walked over to stand directly behind Castiel. He brought both hands up as if he would caress Castiel’s arms but instead dropped his head so his forehead rested against the center of Castiel’s shoulders, “Because I want to know. Because….” Dean drew in a rough breath, “Because I just….. I want to know where you came from before you came to California. I want to know why you came here. I want to know how you became the Comet. I want to know Cas…..” Carefully Dean slipped his hands around Castiel’s waist and pressed them tenderly against Cas’s stomach. “I want to know.”

Dean felt Castiel’s abdomen tense, but the stiffness in Castiel’s shoulders eased out at the same time and he didn’t pull away. He took in a slow lung filling breath and let it out just as slowly. Ever so gently he leaned back into Dean and he placed his free hand over Dean’s.

“I've had this ability for four years. I was a particle physicist back in Chicago." Cas paused and then asked, "Do you know what fusion is? What fission is?” Castiel turned his head slightly. Dean murmured ‘not really’ and drew Castiel closer, pressing his body against Cas’s back. Castiel nodded and continued, “Fission is the splitting of a large atom into two or more smaller ones. It’s what nuclear power is…and it produces radioactive waste…… Fusion is the fusing of two or more lighter atoms into a larger one. Fusion occurs in stars, like our sun. It creates more energy and doesn’t produce the kind of waste that fission does. But to make it happen we need a really hot environment….”

Dean smiled and shifted placing his smile against Castiel’s shoulder, “And getting it as hot as the sun here on ol’earth is a problem….”

Castiel nodded. “The dream is cold fusion….to be able to create that kind of energy at room temperature so it would be accessible to everyone…” Castiel let out a soft sigh, “I was working with a teams at Argon National Labs and at Fermi Lab trying to reach that goal.”

“So there was a crazy science experiment and something went haywire and boom! Now you’re the Comet?” Dean gave a warn chuckle against Castiel.

“It wasn’t as dramatic as that. I was at Fermi Lab….it’s a super collider outside of Chicago….”Castiel shook he head, “I was unknowingly bathed in a shower of unusual particles over the length of a day along with my team. I was the only one who pulled through…..radiation poisoning, other things…we were all so sick and then suddenly I wasn’t. Almost overnight I became well. As if the hand of God himself reached down and made me whole. I should be dead now and I have no empirical evidence to prove why I survived or why I am able to do what I can do.”

“So why aren’t you in some facility some place being poked and prodded by scientists trying to work it all out?” Dean pulled back slightly but let one hand slide a little lower on Castiel’s stomach.

Castiel drained the last of his beer and let the bottle fall to the ground with a hollow tink. He turned, pressed his stomach against Dean’s and slowly smoothed his palms up along Dean’s arms. “Because I am afraid that in the quest to find out how it happened, it will reverse…and in spite of the accidental pain I’ve caused since having it happen.….I think I can use it to do good. I want to keep it Dean. I want to stay like this.” Castiel’s blue eyes leveled up and met Dean’s. There was a deep and pervading ache there now, echoing deep in their blue color.

“Accidental pain?” Dean’s brows pulled together in concern.

“At the time I was working at Fermi Lab I was engaged to a lovely woman….and the first time my ability manifested, she was there. When I touched her….” Castiel hesitated before continuing, “I didn’t let go at first. I didn’t comprehend what was happening. I didn’t know my body was becoming composed of nitrogen and frozen carbon dioxide.” Castiel’s voice hesitated and he lowered his eyes, “I held on tight to her and I burned her. She lost her arm…. Dean…..She lost her arm because…..” His head fell heavy against Dean’s shoulder.

Dean pulled Castiel as close as possible, holding the other man as tight as he could, “It was an accident Cas. You didn’t hurt her on purpose.”

Castiel shoved away from Dean a little, enough so he could look at Dean fully, “I touched you….at the school fire….”Cas’s eyes were bright and fearful, “On your arm….”

Dean rolled his eyes, “Oh come on Cas….it’s fine. I’m fine. You just singed my jacket. I bought a new one. No big deal.”

Castiel, eyes wide and his jaw set, grabbed the hem of Dean’s shirt and began to tug and yank it up. “Let me see Dean. Show me.” Castiel was stronger than he appeared and soon he had Dean’s shirt bundled up and off Dean’s right arm.

Dean laughed lightly and stepped back, “No come on Cas….this is silly….”He he began to slide his arm back into his shirt and to pull it back down. Castiel lowered his head and leveled his gaze at Dean. Pure determination and another deeper fire began to light in Cas’s eyes. He took a step closer and Dean backed up. “No….no no no…”Dean held one hand out half heartedly as if to deter Castiel.

“Dean.” Castiel stopped his approach, “Please. …..Show me.” He said it with a twinge of desperation that under scored the resolve in his voice and it made Dean hold his hands up in surrender. Castiel moved to Dean and gently pulled his t-shirt all the way off. Then Dean turned slightly, lowering his hands and offering his upper arm and shoulder for Castiel’s view.

And there it was. The hand print scar, pinker and slightly raised in contrast to the rest of Dean’s exposed skin. Dean lifted his brows lightly and watched Castiel.

Castiel’s initial reaction was a small intake of breath, his eyes narrowing to a pained pointed look and he tilted his head. He brought his hand up hesitantly with his fingers cupped in an almost reverent manner. Then he opened his hand and placed it over the mark. It fit perfectly. His eyes darted to Dean’s and they were so dark, so haunted, so remorseful that Dean could feel the inside of his chest clench up.

Before Castiel could say anything, Dean put his hand over Cas’s and held it in there in place over the hand print. Dean spoke now in hushed adoring tones, “The truth is Cas….I like it. I feel connected to you. It’s like we have some kind of crazy deep-seated…….I dunno, profound bond. Like…like that hand print was meant to be there. Like we were meant to be…here….with each other.” Dean’s hand gripped against Cas’s for emphasis. “That day in the alley when we first talked, I swear it felt like I had known you forever or ….always….or something insane like that. Like it was just a matter of us getting reacquainted again, falling back into place with each other…..or….I dunno….” Dean looked away with a shy smile, his cheeks going ruddy, “I dunno what I’m saying man….”

Castiel said nothing at first. Instead his other hand slipped up and around Dean’s neck to tenderly pull Dean back to him. Cas's mouth came alongside Dean's ear and he said in his usual deep voice, “Dean…. I have never….." He stopped as of collecting his thoughts, "What I am feeling inside….for you…. It has never been like this with anyone else. I am confused and joyful at the same time….I….”

Dean gave off a warm chuckle, “Yea. We’re….somethin’ else….. aren’t we?” He let go of Castiel’s hand and pulled back a little so he could look into Castiel’s eyes. They were dark and endless and Dean thought he wasn’t going to be able to breathe again because of the intensity of it all. Still a delirious smile grew on Dean’s face and his eyes were nearly glowing in summertime greens.

Castiel’s eyes flicked down to focus on Dean’s half smiling lips and the blue in Cas’s irises flashed with his cold fire once. Dean’s brows shot up and his eyes went wide, and Castiel closed in for a thoroughly possessive and capturing kiss. Dean rolled his eyes closed, his body leaned in against Cas and he eagerly reciprocated with growing fervor. Their mouths fell open, the kiss deepened and a light shiver ran through Dean’s body. When Castiel pulled back, Dean exhaled out a soft frosty breath. Cas had poured a tiny bit of his ability into the kiss, ghosting cold air into Dean’s mouth.

“Whoa Cas….” Dean’s blinked delighted and amazed. His whole mouth tingled chilly as if he he had been gingerly sucking on ice cubes. “That was….wow…”

Castiel reached up, huffed another cold puff of air against Dean’s ear and Dean shivered again. Castiel whispered, “Imagine how that will feel on other parts of your body….” The chill in his breath caused small goose bumps to prickle up along Dean’s skin. Then Castiel stepped back and released Dean, his eyes danced between their infinite indigo and that misty glacial fire. Dean stood there a long moment, lost in those eyes, dazed and outright blushing.

Castiel began walking backwards slowly, heading for his bedroom. He sighed out a small cloud of tiny snowflakes and Dean stepped into them. They fluttered to land on Dean’s flush skin and melted instantly, beading and refracting across Dean’s freckles. Dean shivered yet again, deeper and let a small high moan leak out of his throat.

“…..Cas…” Dean stumbled forward, following Castiel into his bedroom.

Limbs tangled and bodies enjoined, quivered moans and polar sighs echoed out through the small apartment….. and long into the night tiny clouds of wintery haze drifted out of Castiel’s windows and into the dark California sky.

_(to be continued)_


	18. So Nice To See You Too

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Raw Demon returns to Crescent City, Dean finds himself in a bad situation with Castiel....
> 
> and the clock is ticking.......

Tuesday afternoon and the early spring day still held a slight chill in the air even for Southern California. The flowers were out in full force however, and the sky was incredibly clear. If the Halo Bridge had still been open, you would be able to see the vast panorama of Crescent City, Angelus and Havenport from it's height, all the way back to the mountain ranges that rimmed the area miles away.

In mid-town, The Paradise Garage was having a slow day so Garth had taken off and left Dean in charge. They had only two cars up on the lifts, and Dean had resigned himself to working on cleaning and organizing the tools. It had gone well all morning, but Dean ran into trouble when he dropped one of the socket wrenches he was polishing. It had skid under one of the bigger stationary tool boxes and now he was on his belly with one arm buried beneath it trying to fish the wrench out. That was when a pair of expensive tan Italian loafers stopped next to his hip. Dean could see the hem of a pair of men’s white trousers just above them.

“Uh, sir? If you need something there is someone in the main office who can help you…” Dean said to the man, his fingers just brushing against the cold metal of the wrench he was after.

“I’m sorry Dean, but I think you’re the only one who can help me today.” A smooth male voice purred out and the feet shifted slightly as if the man was turning to face the rest of the garage.

Dean scooted out away from the tool box and looked up. The man was incredibly tall, as tall as Dean was. He was wearing an immaculate white designer suit and the hand Dean could see was carrying a single red rose. The man was looking up and away from Dean and all he could see was part of the back of the man’s head.

“Do I know you pal?” Dean croaked out a little annoyed.

The man turned back to Dean and bent over just slightly. He had strawberry blond hair, twinkling blue gray eyes and a charming smile. He reached down to run a long finger gently against the curve of Dean’s jaw, “I should hope so Dean. You’ve been fucking my little brother…quite frequently…. for a week now. I think it’s time you and I got to know each other. Don’t you?”

Instantly Dean recognized the man’s face, “Luc Novak….. Raw Demon….” He half gasped it out. Dean's muscles coiled and tightened immediately.

“So nice to see you too…..” Luc purred again and he brought the open palm of his hand to the side of Dean’s face. Luc winced slightly, his eyes blinked lightly and Dean felt a pinch shoot through his brain. The inside of Dean’s head swam, and his vision clouded up.

Dean relaxed, went limp and suddenly passed out.

\-------------------------------------------

_Fizzzt........_

_Fizzzt........_

_Kt-fizzt....._

The heavy deep cloud of wooziness that Dean was trying to climb through was starting to give way. His vision was still blacked out, but his hearing was coming around. He could hear this repeated fizzing sound coming from someplace nearby. He also felt as if he was floating in the air. His body was lax and limp, but he could feel his head sagging forward slightly along with his hands and feet. There was an oddly distributed pressure against his whole chest, his shoulders, his back, his thighs, and his calves. A lighter similar pressure was all along his arms. When he tried to take in a deep full breath he found that whatever was around his torso didn’t let his chest expand fully. He was also starting to become aware of a dull pain at the back of his left hand and something long was stuck up his left nasal passage way. Dean tried to turn his head and found it difficult, as if his muscles were muddled and sluggish.

The repeating fizzing sound was coming from in front of him a few feet away. He focused on that and tried to open up his hunter perceptions, but whatever was affecting his muscles seemed to also be affecting his concentration. So instead he worked at just trying to get his eyes open.

Hesitantly, as if he had been asleep for a long time and his eye lids didn’t know how they were supposed to work, Dean was able to pull his right eye open a bare crack. Low light as if from a television fluctuated across his vision but it was still very blurry.

Frustrated, Dean tried to shake his head as hard and as violently as he could. He managed to snap it back and forth once, and a stab of pain screamed through his brain. When it subsided however, his eyes were open and his vision started to clear. He shook his head again, with better effect and he could start to see and hear normally again.

He looked down at his body and a shock of panic jolted him.

He was suspended by a leather harness at a forty-five degree angle to the floor. A thin plastic tube was inserted into his nose and held in place with medical tape. An I.V. of some sort was in one of the veins in his hand. He couldn’t see where the tubes came from as they snaked behind him out of his line of sight. His arms were restrained as well. He was stripped of his shoes and the mechanics jumper he had been wearing and was now just in his boxers and socks.

The room was metal. Floors, walls and what ceiling he could see were a white painted metal with rivets where they met at their joints. In front of him were six flat screen televisions mounted to the wall and they were the source of the low light. They were also filled with static fuzz that occasionally glitched or sputtered. This was the source of the sounds he was hearing. Beside him to his left was a heavy white industrial metal door, below him was a small round drainage grate and to his right was….

“Cas….!” Dean rasped out. His voice was barely a thread of a whisper.

Castiel was suspended in the same manner. Dean could see now they were held to the ceiling by straps and chains bolted into the metal. Castiel had an I.V. in his hand, and a tube inserted up into his nose as well. Like Dean, Cas was also just in his underwear and socks. Unlike Dean, Castiel had large bruises dotted all over his body. They were fresh and ugly. Someone had brutally punched into Cas’s mid section and sides, his upper arm, his thighs and there was one large dark mark across Castiel’s jaw. Castiel’s head just hung there, sagged forward and unmoving. A several small blots of blood were on the floor under Cas, but Dean couldn't see where the blood had originated from.

Dean swallowed hard, and his throat was dry. He tried to flex his hands, pull at his bonds but all he succeeded in doing was making himself sway slightly. He called out to Cas again and again, his voice barely above an airy hush.

Dean could feel thick tears beginning to sting the edges of his eyes. He squeezed his lids tight and tried to push them free with difficulty. He was dehydrated. Another tremor of panic hit as he wondered how long they had been held there.

Dean lifted his head and looked at the television screens. “Sammy…..” he uttered out, “Find us man, you gotta find us….”

\-------------------------------------------------

The communications array on the top of City Hall was an impressive installation. With six dishes and two tower poles, it linked the city’s mayoral offices to law enforcement, emergency teams, satellites and media outlets. It was the largest array of its kind within the city limits, and the third largest in the county. And right now it was dancing and rippling with the highly charged riddling veins of Electro’s energy.

Sam, aka Electro, was standing and reaching up with his hands spread wide across one of wire mesh satellite dishes that were part of the array. He had stripped off his usual Electro jacket was standing in just his pants and t-shirt, their fabric fluttered from the dance of air the energy was causing. Sam's hair was breezing back off his face and he hadn’t bothered with putting his goggles on. His eyes were closed and tense in their concentration. Riots of blue tiny bolts raced and whipped all around his body, through his hands and over the whole array. The blue halo of light was beginning to colour the whole roof of City Hall.

Nearby, Benny stood with one foot propped on the edge of the roof structure as he surveyed the down town area below. He had his hands tucked into his coat pockets; his steely ice blue eyes were keen and hard. Occasionally he glanced back at Sam, but for the most part he kept watch around them. Protecting Sam’s back while Sam lost himself in network computer system after system searching for Dean and Castiel. They had been missing for seventy-two hours now and Sam had been reaching a critical level of panic. It had taken Bobby Singer screaming at the deputy Mayor to let them up here so Sam could search further out than he had been able to on his own computer connections.

Ash sat nearby as well, perched on the edge of the helicopter pad opposite the array on the roof. He had his own laptop open and it was running programs of his own design to help catch any data that Sam needed to archive. But Ash’s eyes were glued to Sam, gauging Sam’s physical state. He was fully prepared to disconnect the power on the array if it looked like Sam was tiring out, or if something back lashed and tried to harm Sam.

They had been up there for three hours and the sun was beginning to set when Mayor Crowley burst out up through one of the service entrances onto the roof of his beloved City Hall with Bobby Singer close behind.

“I don’t give a rats ass if you fire me or not Crowley….they are doin’ this and you’re not stopping them!” Bobby was yelling and walking a half step behind the Mayor and he slowed his pace when he saw both Ash and Benny step between the fuming Mayor and Sam.

Mayor Crowley halted and looked both men over. Then he looked at the jutting sparking electric mass that was Sam and the communications array. He refocused back on Ash and growled, “I know you. You’re with the Tribune.”

“First Amendment man….”Ash just shrugged and smiled casually.

“And who are you?!” Crowley barked at Benny. Benny only replied with an easy smile and his stone cold eyes.

“He’s one of my undercover agents now. Roddy, calm your jets.” Bobby spat and walked so he stood beside Ash, “No one’s hurting your precious City Hall. If anything these boys will probably find that Raw Demon bastard and net you some kudos from the Governor’s office. So let them be.” Bobby narrowed his eyes at the Mayor showing he would not withstand any more guff.

Mayor Crowley straightened his suit coat and his shoulders. He narrowed his eyes at all of them, “What….exactly….are they doing up here anyway?” The glow from Sam’s electrical energy was now bathing all of them in its brilliant light.

“Dean’s missing….”Bobby’s voice waivered slightly and it made Mayor Crowley’s eyes ease from their anger to something unreadable.

“Your son….?”the Mayor asked.

“Yea. We think he’s been taken by Raw Demon along with another fellow we know….if Electro can find them then we can move in with full S.W.A.T. and get this guy.” When Bobby said this, his words came out weary and strained.

The Mayor shifted on his feet and looked at Ash and Benny. From his stand point he couldn’t fully see Sam’s face but he leaned around to look at ‘Electro’ radiating sparks and jolts of blue. The Mayor looked back at Bobby and just held his gaze there silently for a long moment.

Then the Mayor quirked an eyebrow and he cocked his head slightly, “Another fellow hmmm?….you know it’s been three days since anyone has seen The Hunter or the Comet. Three days. And here you are with Electro on the roof of my building looking for your son and ‘another fellow’.” Crowley lifted his hands to do air quotes around his last words. Then very loudly he called out, “FIND ANYTHING YET SAM??”

Bobby paled at that and Ash swallowed nervously. The Mayor chuckled with a pleased expression and continued, “So Electro and the Hunter are your boys Sam and Dean. Should I take a guess at who the Comet is? I bet a quick look at Dean’s recent associates would reveal his name as well.”

Benny stepped up and looked down at the Mayor, “It don’ mean a thing. Tha’s right Mr Mayor. Know why? Cuz these boys an’ me….we’re here to help you. We’re here to keep this city on the side of safe. So just let us do what we gotta do to save people. Okay?” The edges of Benny’s smile curled coldly and the irises of his eyes drained to a milky white.

The Mayor met Benny’s eyes and his expression went flat serious. “Fine.” Crowley looked over at Bobby and said, “But I want reports on my desk after any events they are involved in. I want updates. I want to be part of the information loop. I want an official meet and greet.” Crowley held up one finger, “And….I want a way to contact them when I need to.”

“You want a Bat Signal?!” Bobby said with a chuckle.

“A cell phone number will suffice.” Mayor Crowley stretched his chin up and then down. “And no funding… and I don’t want tax payer money used without my consent. That goes for police funds and resources as well.”

Bobby sighed with resigned exasperation, “Fine….okay.”

Just then, Sam’s energy flared and he called out to Ash. A quick zap of light jumped from Sam to Ash’s laptop sitting on the edge of the heli-pad and the programs Ash was running in the background sprang to life. Ash crouched down and read over the data quickly.

“Uh….Bobby….we got a bigger problem than Dean and Cas missing.” Ash began typing quickly on his keyboard, logging the data and analyzing it.

Bobby came over and bent down to look at Ash’s computer, read over what was coming up on the screen and then cursed out “Balls!”

“What is it?” Benny frowned.

“Sam found a broadcasted count down.” Bobby looked up fearfully as he began scanning the city, “We’ve got another bomb on our hands!”

\-------------------------------------

_Fizzzt........_

_Fizzzt........_

_Kt-fizzt....._

“One, two, then a click right before the third fizzy sound…four minutes and twenty seconds….”Dean was counting and talking to himself. He was also carefully rolling his shoulders and flexing a different muscle group in time with the fizzing sounds coming from the TV screens. It gave him something to focus on. He also had discovered that each sound came a second apart. “Four minutes and twenty two seconds.” Counting and keeping track had helped to clear his head more and his voice was back. He also felt if he kept talking out loud it might help Cas come around. Give Castiel something to hone in on and awaken with. “Four minutes and….”

Abruptly the screens went blank and stopped their static. A blue screen appeared briefly and then different images began to fill each screen. The top left TV screen Dean mentally assigned as screen number one showed a vast panoramic view of Havenport and the Halo Bridge. It was just past sunset and the city was speckled with the fading sun and electric lights. Screen number two showed a similar scene just from another angle. Screen three as well, also Havenport but from a third angle as if one were looking at it from out at sea. The bottom left screen Dean assigned as number four. The image it showed was the city of Angelus at a distance. Screen five had Crescent City’s down town in view, also as if viewed from the ocean. But screen six remained that flat blue colour as if the image hadn’t loaded yet. Dean watched all five screens a moment more and realized they were live video feeds. He focused on Crescent City’s down town image and skimmed its skyline. He saw the hint of a bright blue glow at the crown at City Hall’s roof and took in as deep a breath as he bonds would let him.

That was when the sixth screen came to life, and Luc Novak’s, aka Raw Demon's, image smiled out in high definition clarity. He was wearing the same white suit as before, and he was standing some place with water behind him. The water reached out in all directions from the camera’s view. In one hand he held a glass of champagne. In the other hand he held what looked like an elaborate remote control device. Dean realized the man was leaning against some sort of railing with a polished wood edge. Luc raised his glass and smiled joyously, “Hello Dean. I’m told you’re awake now. We cut back a little on the drugs so you’d be bright and cheery when the show started. I know you won’t want to miss this.” Luc took a long sip from his glass and smacked his lips, “You know, you, your brother and your friends certainly gave me a rough time. This phase of the project was supposed to have been executed over a week ago….gotta hand it to you. Finding my original stashes of materials….set me back a bit.” Luc leaned in closer to the camera and his face filled the TV screen, “Didn’t stop me though. And it gave me plenty of time to track down you and Castiel.” Luc leaned back to where he was again, “I hope you enjoy the show Dean. There are four Acts…the fourth and final Act will be me coming into your room there and putting a bullet into your brain. It'll be spectacular! Going to have to do the same with my lovely little brother there since he refused to join my team. He didn’t like my.... persuasion.... methods….” Luc gave a small pout and something sinister moved over his eyes. It vanished and his radiant smile returned. “Ah well. Enjoy the show!”

The image switched from Luc to a blue screen that simply read: Act One in white text. Below it was a one minute count down, measured in simple seconds and it had started ticking.

Dean’s stomach twisted hard inside his gut. His eyes flicked from the countdown on the screen to the cities displayed on view. Suddenly it became very clear to Dean what Luc was going to do.

He was going to blow up all three cities, one at a time in succession, and there was nothing Dean could do but hang there and watch.

_(to be continued)_

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_Some of the original comments on this chapter when it was originally posted:_

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	19. Act 1/ Havenport

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dean and Cas are prisoners of the terrorist Raw Demon, Castiel's vicious brother Lucifer Novak. Can they free themselves in time to stop Raw Demon's plans to set off a series of deadly bombs across Southern California? Or will Sam and Benny be able to stop the destruction?
> 
> Act 1 of Raw Demon's hellish plans.

**Act 1 / Havenport**

The Morning Star was a 146 foot luxury yacht. It had two bedroom areas, an indoor dining area, an alfresco dining area, a Jacuzzi, a huge gourmet galley, spacious baths with whirl pool tubs, a launch area for a small zodiac boat and a secret hidden room deep within its belly. It also had a wide area up on the prow with cushioned seats and spacious padded places to lounge in the sun.

Luc Novak was standing on these padded areas now, his arms out stretched away from his body as he beamed up into the twilight sky. In one hand he held a half filled champagne glass. In the other hand he held a remote control device. Nearby, Lilith sat relaxed in one of the cushioned seats, her blond hair pulled into a tousled pony tail and a bottle of champagne in held lazily in her hand. She watched Luc with a pleased smile on her face.

“We should have music Luc…after. To really celebrate, you know?” Lilith curled her lips into a bigger grin.

Luc exhaled and brought his hands down. “I can hear music in my head right now though, beautiful straining chords. Soon there will be a thundering bass added.” He swept the hand with the remote in it in a wide arc. Their yacht was anchored not far off the coastline and spread out just beyond were Crescent City, Havenport and the harbor sparkling against the water. Other boats were out and about nearby, sail boats and other yachts, pleasure cruisers and small private fishing boats. They all dotted across the water, out enjoying the springtime air.

Luc sighed dramatically and looked to his watch. “…..any moment now!” Luc swiveled elegantly around and pointed off towards the coast.

“Five”

“Four”

“Three….”

\---------------------------------------------------------------

Sweat was pouring down Dean’s back, across his forehead and down his chest. He had managed to twist his right hand free, and pull it two-thirds of the way out of its restraint using rough jerking motions. He had nearly dislodged his shoulder at first, and he almost wished that he had. It would have been painful but it would have helped to be able to twist at a more severe angle. He grit his teeth together and then did two more hard short yanks. His right arm slid free.

He let it sag for a moment, shaking the blood back into it and wiggling his fingers. He wasted no time snapping the I.V. out, off and away from himself, and then he began to tug the tube out of his nose. There was a brief sharp pain high in his nasal cavity, and then it all came slithering out accompanied by a bright splash of blood. His head was hammering inside his skull but he pushed past it.

Dean twisted his torso and reached behind himself, feeling along his back at the leather harness that held him suspended to the ceiling. He traveled his fingers down to find a large latch mechanism at the small of his back. His fingers becoming more nimble now, he felt out where the latch could be triggered. Without hesitation he flipped it open and the harness around his torso snapped free. Dean dropped with a hard whump against the cold metal floor, hitting his hip and causing it to sting. His left hand was still aloft, still attached to the ceiling but the rest of his body was not. He swiveled around and began to rip apart the restraints on his legs.

Suddenly he froze and looked up at the TV screens. The timer had gone to zero and there was complete silence in the room. Dean held still and watched the screens closely. Nothing had changed. Everything was it had been. Dean held his breath and thought maybe the reason Sam hadn’t found he and Cas yet was because Sam had been too busy out there stopping Raw Demon’s explosions. Dean was about to exhale in relief when a very tiny flash on one of the screens caught his eye.

It had come from somewhere over Havenport.

Dean frantically scanned the screens and strained to look closer. He narrowed his eyes and now he could see a large hazy thick cloud of gas dispersing over the skyline of the city and slowly sinking down in between its buildings. Dean didn’t move.

A hot pulse of light bursting over Havenport made Dean’s eye twitch and the cameras trained on that city jerked a half second later. The cloud that had sifted its way through the city ignited with a loud ‘pop’ and instantly broiled the entire city of Havenport into a vast swath of flame and smoke. It was as if hell itself had belched forth its blaze swallowing the city whole into it maw. Rank black plumes of smoke gutted themselves skyward as buildings crumbled and fell.

Dean snapped back into action. He freed his legs and stood, reaching up to unlatch his left arm from the restraints. He shook that arm a moment and wiped the sweat from his face with the back of his hand. Out of the corner of his eye he could see the counter start on the TV screen again, ticking down once more to a new fresh catastrophe.

Dean ignored it and moved quickly to Castiel’s side.

\--------------------------------------------------------------

The blast wave from the explosion in Havenport had knocked Sam off his feet. He was sitting on his hip now, and bouncing hard against the floor. He reached up, gripped the back of the seat in front of him, and shakily hauled himself to his feet again. The wind whipped around his hair and he steadied himself. He reached forward and latched his hands on the laptop he had taped to the seat. He was thankful he had the foresight to anchor it, albeit ungracefully, with duct tape.

“You okay Sam?” Benny called out. His hands were held fast on the steering wheel in front of him and his eyes were locked far ahead of them over the water. His whole body recoiled with practiced ease as the boat they were on slapped and careened across the open water off the coast. They were cruising at a break neck velocity and whipping past other boats.

The moment Sam had pin pointed the source of the countdown signal from City Hall’s communications array, Benny had grabbed Sam and had snatched up Ash’s laptop. Then Benny had teleported them in short bursts out of the downtown area and across the harbor to where Benny kept his own small speed boat docked. It wasn’t big, sixteen feet at most but she was fast. They had just made it out of the harbor when the air in Havenport had become thick and sticky. Then not a breath later it had all erupted into an encompassing mass of fire and destruction, knocking Sam off his feet from the blast wave.

“I’m good….” Sam gave Benny a thumbs up and looked at the targeting algorithm running on the laptop. He looked up again and pointed to a large luxury yacht about fifty feet to the west of them. “There, that’s the one. The Morning Star.”

Benny nodded and the hint of a wicked smile started to play on his face. “I’m circling ‘round, come at ‘em from the port stern side. Hold on.” And he angled the boat a little hard to their left. That’s when he started to whistle long and sharp into the wind.

Sam braced himself and looked back over his shoulder. His eyes were wide with fear and worry.

Havenport was gone.

_(to be continued)_


	20. Act 2 / Angelus

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dean and Cas are prisoners of the terrorist Raw Demon, Castiel's vicious brother Lucifer Novak. Can they free themselves in time to stop Raw Demon's plans to set off a series of deadly bombs across Southern Califonia? Or will Sam and Benny be able to stop the destruction?
> 
> Act 2 of Raw Demon's hellish plans.

__

**Act 2** ****[](762666)  


“Cas….come on Cas….come back to me….” Dean voice was low and warm but held an undercurrent of panic. “C’mon man, I need you.”

Castiel felt a familiar cottony thickness clouding his head. He immediately recognized the effects of the drug Luc had previously employed when he had been taken against his will over a week ago. The sluggish pervasiveness in his head and through his body dragged everything down and muted a deeper pain beyond that. Castiel forced his eyes to crack open and they stung. He was lying cradled in Dean’s arms in some strange room. The walls were metal and white, like the interior of an institution. Six televisions screen were mounted to one wall and the ceiling was riddled with dangling broken harnesses, restraints and medical tubes. Castiel shifted his head as best he could to look up into Dean’s face.

“Yea…there we go….good…” A sudden sad smile wrecked Dean’s face and his green eyes clouded up with tears, “For a while there I didn’t think I was gonna get you back.”

Castiel was about to ask what happened, but then the memories came flushing back into his mind. He had been headed to his car to go to lunch when he was hit from behind. He had only groggy recollections of being stuffed into a car with an unconscious Dean beside him, and taken to a marina. He remembered them both being loaded onto a large yacht, and Dean being dragged off below. That was when Luc had touched Castiel’s head and Cas had gone as limp as a noodle with no control over his body in anyway. And then Luc had dragged him into another room and….

Castiel’s whole body shuddered and he stiffened in Dean’s arms. His lungs began gasping, sucking in quick shallow breaths and his eyes were wild and terrified. Dean instantly pulled Castiel against him, hugging his body close and pressing Cas’s head into the crook of his neck. Castiel choked out a terrified small sound from his throat and Dean squeezed him tight.

“It’s over…it’s over. Cas….” Dean held him and rocked him, but his eyes strayed to the television screens and the one bright blue countdown with the friendly text that was ticking down the seconds left until the next city wide bomb went off. “Cas…listen to me. We have to get out of here. I need you Cas….I need you!”

Castiel’s slug slow body began to curl against Dean and the tremors of terror began to subside. Castiel’s breathing coughed and slowed into trembling exhales of Dean’s name. In response Dean clutched Cas fiercely and held him there.

“We’ll get him. We can. We’ll get that son of a bitch. And he’ll pay for what he’s done. All of it.” Dean buried his face against Castiel’s shoulder, “But first we need to get up and get out of here.”

Castiel gave a small weak nod of understanding. The drug was still deep in his system and his body was not responding. In a half gasp he croaked out, “Pain….. pain counters….drug….”

Dean became still. “Physical pain?”

Cas nodded, “Yes….need it. Remember….my foot?”

Dean remembered. Castiel had cut his foot the last time Luc had drugged him, and used the feeling of the pain to push past and out of the drug’s effects, access his abilities and flush the drug the rest of the way out of his body. “What can I do?” Dean asked.

Castiel pushed back away from Dean’s hold just slightly and said, “I.V. needle…..”

Dean gave out a small groan of displeasure and gently laid Castiel back against the floor. He got up and found the needle that had been buried in Castiel’s arm previously when they were both trussed up like sporting prizes and hanging from the ceiling. He grimaced at how unsanitary this all was, but came back to Castiel’s side. Dean’s face was knotted up unhappily.

“Under….fingernail….”Castiel looked up at Dean with heavy lidded eyes, but the trust that shone there was unmistakable.

Dean made a squeamish face, “Really?! There?!”

“Dean!” Castiel coughed and his eyes flicked over to the bomb count down. There was less than a minute and a half left on it.

“Okay okay!” Dean knelt at Castiel’s side and picked up Cas’s right hand. He isolated Castiel’s ring finger and held it firmly in one hand. Then with the other hand he lined up the needle point and took a deep breath. Without warning Dean jammed the needle up under Castiel’s fingernail, deep into the nail bed beneath. Dean shoved it in deep, then yanked it out and threw it aside. Castiel howled out from the pain, buckling his body in half and twisting to his side. His blue eyes peeled wide and pale as the side of his mouth stretched against the cold floor. He grunted with a pang of hurt and sucked in a deep hissing breath. Dean came to hold his shoulders and pulled the two of them together into an embrace. Castiel’s breath was coming in hard pants now and Dean could feel other man’s body regain itself. The limp watery cast to his arms and legs was vanishing swiftly.

Suddenly Castiel shot his arm out away from Dean and held it high in the air. A burst of his icy fire vapor split the air around his hand and sent cool air shivering down around both of them.

Dean grinned with triumph and crushed Castiel into a deep kiss. When they pulled back, Dean winked at Cas and said, “Let’s go kick some ass….”

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Luc was dancing.

He swayed and twirled his body in a lazy happy manner, dipping his head back and laughing with delight. Behind him, the former city of Havenport was a nightmare conflagration of ash and fire. It haloed his body in rays of golden orange like a sunset gone nuclear. He drained his champagne glass and threw it wide out into the ocean beside his yacht.

“This feels like it was too easy…..” He bubbled with mirth, “…but so much fun none the less.”

Lilith had moved up to the very point of the prow and was watching the destruction with binoculars trained on the edge of the city, “Luc, there are poor burned survivors leaping to their deaths into the ocean in droves. It’s hypnotic.”

“And poetic don’t you think?” Luc feigned a pout then, “Oh but what will the poor land locked people of Angelus do? All they have is that meager spit of water they call a river….for shame…” He hoisted the remote control high into the air. “Shall we my dear?”

Lilith’s gaze was still riveted to Havenport and she said dispassionately, “As you like my love.”

Luc squealed with a childlike giggle and began to count off with the tiny timer seated into the remote, “Five….”

“Four….”

“Three….”

“Two…..” his thumb hovered over the ‘enter’ button.

“One!” He pressed it.

Silence.

And then out of nowhere, the cacophony of wings. Dark fluttering frantic wings. Hordes of crows descended down onto the deck of the yacht and beat around both Lilith and Luc. They swarmed them, pounding them with their wings and pecked at them with their beaks. Screaming in anger Luc thrashed against their onslaught and the remote tumbled from his hand….

Right into Sam’s.

Benny had tethered his boat alongside the Morning Star and he and Sam had snuck up onto the yacht minutes before. They had disabled and rendered the rest of the crew on the yacht harmless, and then they had crept to the prow of the boat unseen. As Benny had sent in the flock of crows, Sam had come around up on Luc’s side to gain control of the remote device. Now that he had it in hand, Sam skirted back away from the mass of crows attacking Luc and Lilith, making his way alongside the edge of the yacht. He placed his palm flat over the remote and hundreds of brilliant blue sparks flickered out through his hand into the remote. Sam closed his eyes to focus, and reached out and in at the same time with his power. In his mind’s eye he saw the data that confirmed first part of the bomb had dispersed over the city of Angelus, the heady cloud of aerosol fuel was in the air already. Sam used his power to get into the second part of the bomb, the igniter, and shut it down. Sam learned that he entire unit was held aloft by a weather balloon and Sam sent out a priority signal to the Angelus police and fire to retrieve and remove it. He disabled the igniter completely on the bomb in Angelus then he returned to the prow of the yacht.

Luc was seething. His hair was a disheveled mess and his suit was ripped and torn. He was standing straight and tall, shooting daggers of anger with his eyes on Benny. Lilith was ducked down and terrified, hiding behind one of the chairs there. Benny and Sam moved to flank in closer to Luc and the crows that had been filling the evening air a moment before were gone, flying off back towards the coast.

“It’s over Luc….” Benny said calmly, “Now tell us where Dean and Cas are.”

“They were in Havenport…”Luc said smugly, “Probably just a lot of ash and soot by now…”

“You’re lying!” Sam growled out and his hands flared up into tiny storms of lightning.

“That isn’t the thing you boys need to be worried about. What you need to ask yourselves is….” Luc lifted his head and grinned down his nose at them. But the grin wasn’t playful or smug anymore. It was cold and vicious carrying the promise of something awful deep within. “The real question is….did I build fail safes into my system? Even if you stopped the vaccum bomb from detonating in Angelus, will the one in Crescent City still go off?”

Benny held his deathly gaze on Luc and took one step closer to the man as he said, “It’s a bluff……”

Sam tensed up and turned the remote device over in his hands. He sent a flash of his power through it and searched out through the systems connected to it. He shoved through, overriding systems and functions, sorting through data, double checking the codes. Finally Sam snarled and smashed the remote device against the deck. It shattered into broken bits of plastic, wire and transistor. “It’s not a bluff. The one meant for Crescent City has a local timer set for its release. It’s not connected to the rest!”

There was the barest ripple in Benny’s cool exterior and he removed his hands from his pockets in a slow deliberate fashion. “How do we stop it Raw Demon?” There was an underlying threat to both Benny’s voice and the way he shifted his feet.

“You don’t stop it Benny. You don’t.” Luc made a flourishing gesture with his hand, fluttering it up over his head. “No one can.”

“I can.” Castiel said.

Luc’s eyes went briefly wide with surprise. Benny and Sam turned toward the gravelly voice that spoke from behind them and the frustration in Sam’s eyes vanished. Standing there on the deck were Dean and Castiel. They were wearing maintenance overalls with the yacht company logo, and they were both in their socks with no shoes. They had stolen clothing from where they had escaped below in the hold of the yacht. Dean’s fists were clenched loose at his sides and his eyes were glowing with green raging fire. Castiel had a hug bruise along his chin and jaw line, and there was a hollow fury echoing in his eyes.

Luc let out a loud laugh, “You?! Little brother, don’t be ridiculous! How could you possibly stop it? Stop me?!”

Castiel said nothing and simply huffed out a light cloud of frigid air. Then in a blink his whole body erupted into a flaming column of ice and haze, subzero mists tinged with magenta and blue coiling up into the air around him. He flared so intensely that Sam shivered and Benny took a half step aside. Castiel levitated lightly off the deck of the yacht and curled his hands into opened claws. Balls of frost and white flame swirled in his palms.

Luc’s voice choked in fear, “Y…you….you’re the….THE COMET?!”

Sam ignored him and looked at Castiel, “The bomb, it’s sitting on the roof of the garage….”Sam glanced at Dean, “The one where Dean works….The Paradise Garage.” He looked back at Castiel, “The launch will come from the roof there. Once it’s air born it’ll have a fast ascent and you’ll only have thirty seconds before it ignites.”

Castiel looked over at Dean and nodded. Dean tossed Cas a smile that carried layers of meaning in it and he winked as if to say ‘I know you’ve got this’. Then Castiel the Comet turned his head towards Crescent City and lifted himself further off the deck of the boat. He hovered for just the briefest moment before he shot off with such a blast of speed the force of it rocked the yacht and kicked up waves on the water. In seconds he was out of sight flying over the city skyline.

Benny turned on his heel and looked at Luc with cold amusement, “You were saying?”

Luc took a fearful step back.

_(to be continued)_


	21. Act 3 / Crescent City

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Castiel the Comet is off to try to stop the final bomb from exploding. Will he make it in time? Will Luc Novak, aka Raw Demon meet justice? 
> 
> The third and final act to Raw Demon's hellish plans and the conclusion to the Raw Demon story arc!!

**Act 3**

There was a faint “click”, and the large box on the roof of the Paradise Garage sprung open. A round white weather balloon floated out, tugging two plastic containers beneath it. Silently it began to rise, moving up into the night sky over Crescent City. The breeze buffeted it about slightly and for a moment the balloon wobbled and stalled in its ascent. The lowest hanging container had a small yellow LED light flashing off at short intervals. It began to flash faster and faster until it was full on yellow without any breaks in its light. There was another small soft click and…..

And suddenly Castiel The Comet was there, scooping the two plastic containers into his arms. He swooped in, gripped the entire contraption tight and then shot straight up into the sky. The weather balloon bobbled and thrashed in his wake, finally popping and flagging in ragged sections behind.

Castiel pushed, increasing his speed, rocketed up one thousand feet, five thousand feet, higher and higher. The plastic in his arms began to crack and break from his frozen touch but still he climbed higher. He flared out brilliantly in the dark sky like a reverse falling star and people below everywhere through the city stopped and pointed, their faces filled with wonder and astonishment. The Comet still climbed faster, farther, pulling the device up into the atmosphere away from the city. His bright vapor trail drew a white line up into the stars above. He shot higher and higher and…

Abruptly there was a bright stab of orange and a huge red bubbling roil of flame and smoke shunted out from where Castiel had been. The explosion flew out then recoiled in, rolling on itself like a living mass of aerial lava fifteen thousand feet above the city. From its center a bright star point made of ice and haze plummeted down, falling like an angel descending to the earth. It plunged in a straight descent back to the city and was lost somewhere beyond sight.

*

*

*

“CAS!!!!” Dean howled as his hands clamped down on the rail of the yacht. He had been tracking Castiel with his perceptions open hard and far, and he could scent the frozen fiery mix of chemicals that made up Castiel in his Comet form as he had zoomed in to stop the last bomb. He had seen Castiel soar in, snatch up the bomb and race up into the sky. But now all Dean could smell was the acrid burnt scent of the detonated bomb high above the city. Now all he could feel was the rage and pain inside at seeing Cas fall and it manifested through the boiling heat of his veins. He was trembling with adrenaline and his eyes were a storm of green fury. His strength amplified and his hands slowly began to bend the metal rail under them.

Dean whirled around to see Sam watching him. Sam’s eyes were a mirror of his own but sad and dancing with blue shards of electricity. Sam’s whole body swarmed with his power, wreathed in the jutting jagged bolts of light. The brothers both turned then and cast their gaze on Luc, Raw Demon, the architect of all this evil.

Benny gave a soft chuckle and took a few slow steps back, “I wouldn’t want t’ be you right now Luc. I wouldn’t want t’ be you….” Benny’s eyes paled to ghost white. He flickered, vanished and then reappeared behind Lilith. He bound her up in his arms and looked to Sam and Dean. “The lady an’ I will be waitin’ for you boys in th’ boat. Lemme know when you’re done here with this S.O.B. and we’ll escort her back to police headquarters.” He gave them a nod. Instantly he and Lilith were gone.

Sam and Dean advanced slowly on Luc. Sam darted jolts of electricity around Luc’s feet and legs to keep him from running, while Dean stalked up closer. Sam spoke out in a clear voice, “Luc Novak, you are under arrest for the murder of six persons on Halo Bridge, for the bombing of Sandy Hodges Elementary School, for the desolation of the city of Havenport…..for the murder of Castiel Novak…..come peacefully and you won’t be harmed.”

“You must be joking! I won’t go to prison you know. Some fancy lawyer will have me back out and off to Dubai or Russia before you can blink your eyes.” Luc mocked, “And you won’t harm me. You goody types are sworn to uphold the laws and human decency.” Luc lowered his voice, “You can’t touch me.”

Dean hissed through clenched teeth and tracked closer, “You think? You think I won’t bury my fist deep down through your throat and rip your lungs out?” He brought his fists back into strained claws flanking his hips and his shoulder muscles coiled tightly, “You think I won’t wrench your head from your neck with my bare hands?!”

“You resisted arrest. You were armed. We had to use deadly force.” Sam offered and cocked a cold smile Luc’s way.

“You wouldn’t….” Luc’s bravado faltered.

“Try me.” Dean grimaced, his face filled with hot wrath. “Please!”

Luc took a step sideways, as if he meant to leap over the side of the boat. Just as his hand touched on the rail there was a deafening crack of sound and a bright white blur sped past Dean at an incredible rate. It slammed into Luc, snatched him up and carried him screaming out into the air over the water. The thing that had grabbed Luc burned like a small hot star and as it swung back to return towards the yacht, Luc’s screams began to take on a different cast. They pitched up from panic to shrilled higher, calling out pure agony, terror and incredible pain. It sounded as if every nerve fiber in Luc’s body was being ripped from him and shredded into the night air. The thing sailed back to hang just over the deck, and it slammed Luc’s body down hard against that surface. As Luc hit, parts of his body shattered and scattered across the deck. He was nearly frozen solid, yet his head and torso continued to belt out this pealing horrific wail.

“Cas?” Dean wasn’t looking at the remains of Luc Novak. His radiant green flushed eyes were held on the dazzling form slowly lowering itself to the deck of the yacht. As Luc’s scream faded, the form landed lightly amid a froth of frosty vapor. Castiel’s human form could be seen now, but the light coming from him was fading fast. A moment later he was just Cas again, standing nude and shivering on the prow of the boat.

Dean rushed to Castiel’s side, his Hunter abilities fading, his eyes dimming to normal and his body relaxing, “Cas….you okay?” His rough voice croaked out.

Castiel stood for a moment, staring at the wrecked dead body of his brother Luc. He trembled out a low sigh, then looked at Dean. He gave a small nod and said quietly, “Yes. I believe so.”

Sam eased down his powers as well, and slid off his jacket. He passed it to Castiel so he could wrap it around himself. “Let’s get out of here….” Sam gestured to the Coast Guard boats now speeding in their direction across the water. Dean and Cas nodded in agreement.

_Epilogue_

Less than an hour later, the central police station was surprised to find Lilith hanging upside down from the center of their lobby ceiling. She was bound and gagged and had a sign pinned to her back that read, “Hello. I am wanted by The FBI, Interpol and several other world justice organizations. Thank you and have a nice day.” When Police Commissioner Bobby Singer was called and informed all he had to say was, “Idjits….”

\------------------------------------------------------------------

Twenty minutes after that Benny knocked on Christina Ronald’s front door. When she answered, he scooped her up into a massive hug, buried his face into the softness of her hair and whispered a deluge of endearments into her ear. He picked her up, kissed her deeply and then shut the door closed behind them.

\------------------------------------------------------------------

One hour after that a 1967 Chevy Impala pulled up to the edge of the Crescent City Marina parking lot where it met the marina sea wall. The various lights from the docked boats and the surrounding structures cast gleaming patterns all along its sleek surface. The Impala parked and its engine cut off. Its doors opened and three men got out. The driver was a young man with honey coloured hair and dazzling green eyes. He wore a weathered dark leather jacket and faded out jeans. He moved to the back of the car, opened the trunk and removed an ice chest. Then he shut the trunk and began to carry the ice chest to the edge of the sea wall. The other men followed. One was an imposing height, he wore a plaid shirt, a t-shirt beneath and well worn blue jeans. His head was crowned with a mop of brown hair and he was currently sporting a wide happy smile. It shone all the way up into his eyes and he held himself in a satisfied way. The last man had a serious cast to his face, but his deep blue eyes were peaceful and content. He wore a floppy tan trench coat over a rumpled suit and he walked with his hands hanging at his sides.

They came to where the first man had brought the ice chest and sat down. Below their dangling legs the dark ocean water lapped and burbled in lazy sloshes. The first man reached into the ice chest and withdrew several bottles of beer, and then he passed them to his companions. He took his seat in between them. They opened their beers and sat in easy silence for a long time.

Finally after the first man had drained his bottle he said, “I want to get a house.”

The second man, the tallest one, replied, “Really Dean?”

“Yea Sam, I think….I think that would be cool. That apartment is getting’ too tiny for us y’know?” Dean nodded, a pleased but serious look was on his face, as if this was an idea he had worked over in his head for some time.

Sam echoed Dean’s nod and his expression, “Okay yea. Sure. Let’s do it.” Sam smiled again and stood, fishing his cell phone out of his pocket. He tapped it open, winked at Dean once, then wandered off along the sea wall to make a phone call. “Hi Ruby….yea….nice to hear your voice too….”drifted back to the other men as Sam moved away.

Dean turned and looked to the man in the trench coat seated next to him. “Cas, I’m sorry about…”

“Please don’t say anything Dean.” Castiel let go of a deep sigh he seemed to be holding in. “I’ll speak to a counselor about what happened….about Luc…what he did. What I did.” Castiel looked down at the beer bottle in his hands, “I’ll work that out in therapy. And we’ll discuss it later, of course. But not right now. Not tonight.”

“Okay….” Dean said tenderly and reached over to take one of Castiel’s hands into his own. “I’m here for you Cas. Just so you know.”

Castiel turned and met Dean with that usual deep indigo intense gaze, the one Dean had come to cherish and crave. Castiel said nothing, and after a moment he simply leaned in and kissed Dean sweetly but firmly as if to say ‘I know’. After they kissed a second and third time, they both sat quiet for a while just watching the lights play on the surface of the water.

Eventually Dean said, “Cas….. I want you to move in with me an’ Sam.” He cocked a sideways glance at Castiel, the green flecks in his irises dancing warmly.

A tiny hint of a smile tugged along the side of Castiel’s mouth, “I would like that very much Dean.”

Dean’s face lit up with a thousand watt smile, “Awesome.”

Then after a moment Dean said, “We need a name for our superhero team now you know….something catchy and exciting….How about Team Righteous Fury??”

Castiel let out a bored sigh, “No Dean….”

“Team Ultimate Punch!”

“….no Dean.”

“Team Justice Sandwich!”

“Dean?….. No.”

“Cas?”

“Yes Dean?”

“I love you Cas.”

“I love you too Dean.”

_***fin*** _

**Author's Note:**

> This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. Supernatural and its original characters and themes are the property of The CW Network etc.


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